I Have A Name
by MaddHatter12
Summary: On the run from two stupid red necks, Amanda runs into Graeme and Clive on their way to the Black Mailbox. Just before reaching the spot where they part, they meet Paul, and she can't help but get sucked in when they suddenly say she can't leave just yet.
1. Two Rednecks, Two Nerds

**I'm such a procrastinator.**

**One day I'll finish one of my first fics.  
>It's harder then it looks.<strong>

**This is just…a preview I guess. It'll be kind of short.**

**It's like a prologue.**

**I watched Paul recently, for my 17****th**** birthday, and I immediately fell in love with it.**

**I already loved Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, and I fell even more in love with Seth Rogen's voice, and I fell in love with Jason Bateman.**

**I fell in love with a lot of things in this movie.**

**And I'm sorry if I get any of the original dialogue wrong. I do not own the movie yet and I can't find the clips I want on Youtube.**

**(AKA I'M REALLY NOT IN THE MOOD FOR CORRECTIONS)**

**Read & **_**REVIEW**_

If the two sun-burned, sweat soaked, rednecks weren't quietly deciding to kill her after they had picked her up off the side of the road, she thought the 100 degree weather that was seeping through the black exterior of their truck was going to finish the job. Neither of the men knew how to work their brand new AC, and they wouldn't dare roll down the back windows for her.

They had picked her up on the side of Highway 6, just outside Tonopah. From there on, they had dragged her down that highway, all the way across Nevada. She could truthfully say that she had no idea what their actual destination was, partly because they never answered her question about it. When they had picked her up, they _claimed_ that they were on their way to Moorcroft, Wyoming, just where she needed to go.

After two hours of being yelled at for staying on the floor behind the front seats of the black truck for two hours, she fell asleep to the sounds of their country music, loud laughing, and jokes about what they were going to do with her once they reached a rest stop. The floor felt cool against her hot pink cheeks, but the sight of a large rifle stuffed under the driver's seat left her sleep deprived eyes a little scarred.

But after that one or two hours of looking around and trying to ignore the rifle pointed at her face, she fell asleep for an hour before she woke up to an immobile car. Her eyes fluttered open, and she felt even dirtier than she did before. They had kept the back windows closed while she had slept and her black hair was stuck to her sweaty neck and shoulders.

She quietly tried to push herself up onto her knees, so she could look around and was disgusted to find that her shirt had stuck to her wet stomach, and that her shoes had slipped of her wet feet. She felt like a pig in heat.

Suddenly, as she felt comfortable setting her knees on the hard floor, she got a slap on the behind and a pat on the head. Her knees collapsed under her and she set her hands on the floor to keep herself stable.

"Don't be getting' up any time soon, kiddo. We're goin' in ta get some grub." The driver growled, while the passenger wailed with laughter.

"Yeah, so, don't even think about leaving!" he cried out as the two men opened their car doors and slipped out. She looked up at the doors, peeking through the crack in between the wall and the driver's seat, noticing that the windows were still rolled up.

She gasped and threw herself in between the front seats, "Wait!" she cried.

The passenger, a short, blonde haired man, shut his door, ignoring her protest, while the driver, a tall, large-bellyed man with a mustache, just turned and stared at her oddly, looking rather amused at her sudden desperation. He stood there, looking back at his buddy, pulling up his pants and setting his hands on his hips as he waited for her to continue.

She stared up at him rather intimidated by his stance. She looked him up and down and smiled sweetly at him, "You can't—just—_leave_ me here! It's over 90 degrees out there! How do you think it's gonna feel in here? You wouldn't want me to—to die of heat stroke or something!" she asked, shrugging a bit and gripping the seats.

The driver smirked and looked back at the passenger. They began to laugh, "It's probably pretty damn hot then!"

He slammed the door shut and then knocked on the window as she shut her eyes tightly and let out a sigh, dropping her head in despair.

"Besides! We left a window cracked!" he laughed and she could hear their boots crunching on dirt and gravel, the sound slowly retreating.

Her head rose and she stared at the cracked window in amazement. She crawled into the drivers seat and stuck her lips into the crack, trying to twist her head so she could get the best acoustics to call out for them. Her knees sunk into the hot upholstery and she could feel and smell the sweat that had emanated off of him. Her hot hands created fog on the blacked out windows as she set them against the steaming hot surface, and she felt like her skin would melt against it.

"Hey! Hey!" she called out desperately. The footsteps stopped and she peeked through the crack to see them staring at the car.

"…C—can I at least go to the bathroom?" she asked, scrunching up her face, a nasty habit she had when she lied.

The men hesitated and they looked at each other awkwardly. The smaller, blonde passenger rubbed the back of his head and squinted at the driver.

"Sh—should we Gus?"

"Uh…shit…uh…I don't—I don't know, Jake."

"Let's just let her piss. She does look like she needs to go." Jake said, pointing at the car.

She nodded her head like they could see her and scrunched up her face, "Oh, yeah, I _really_ need to piss!" she called unconvincingly.

The large driver, Gus, sighed and trudged back to the truck, reaching out for the handle of the truck as he stepped closer. She peeled her hands off of the window and wiped them on her damp dark gray shirt. The door swung open and she nervously smiled at the big man, who she came face to face with even when she was on her knees, elevated far above the ground. His hand grabbed her arm roughly and he tugged her out the car and into the open air.

A gush of relief washed over her and she was able to stand there and take in the glory of a warm wind. She looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes around in her flip-flops, feeling the dirt under her heels that had jumped into her shoes after she had tried not to fall to the ground after that rough tug. She sucked in a breath and smiled as she lifted up her arms to air herself out.

Gus' large hand came in contact with her shoulder and he shoved her forward, almost causing her to trip over a few rocks. He laughed and wrapped his fat fingers around her small arm. She gasped and looked up at him in disgust and alarm, taking a moment to glare at Jake the passenger. The two started a boring conversation that she droned out easily, letting the sun and the building before them take up her attention.

"The Little A'Le'Inn" was what the large sign next to the building said. Stickers of aliens were used as cheap graffiti all over the building and the sign. She looked over her shoulder at the truck, sneering at it, knowing that she couldn't pretend to be peeing long enough to stay out of the horrid thing. After staring at that for a minute, trying to ignore the sudden tug on her arm, she looked up at a large RV that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

She quirked a brow at it and pressed her lips together, hoping it wasn't some poor family that would have to run into the two brutes that had kidnapped her. Well, not really kidnapped. She willingly got in their car after they convinced her they were heading her way.

They didn't seem like the type that would keep her forever or rape her or kill her. Only just rough her up, threaten her, maybe do a little something-something and then let her off in an unnamed, middle-of-nowhere place to let her fend for herself as they drove off into the distance laughing.

Still, her heart went out to the souls that had to cross them, when anything someone said could offend them in some stupid way that really just gave them a reason to fight. She hoped that there weren't any brave soldiers in the small restaurant that would dare try and confront them. She was sure that the straps around Gus' arms weren't a fancy pair of suspenders. Maybe the family was even planning on leaving soon.

Jake pushed open the door, staring back at Gus as he told some joke that she didn't even hear and wouldn't have even understood. Gus threw her further inside and she stumbled in, almost having her arm pulled out of her socket as he grabbed her arm again and pulled her back; the two men just laughing carelessly.

For a split second, she was able to look up through her hair and look up at a small man with ginger hair, light facial hair, and a pointed nose that was smiling at the group and beginning to snicker at the joke Gus had made. She looked between the man and the rednecks, looking skeptical at the outcome of the situation. With her free hand she pushed some of her hair behind her ear, reaching back to play with the small ponytail that held up only half of her hair, the rest falling down over her shoulders. Then she tugged at her jean shorts, looking around awkwardly as the rednecks confronted the ginger man.

The man could only suck in his laughter and spin around in his seat to face the space behind the counter. She awkwardly looked up to the two rednecks and she looked back at the ginger man who was shaking his head in response to the men's questions about what he thought was funny or what his problem was.

Gus looked down at her and sneered, "Get goin'." He growled, pushing her in the direction of the bathroom. She almost crashed into a table and could only look back over her shoulder and stare at him angrily. The ginger man peered over his shoulder nervously, watching her as she sneered at Gus and carefully look over in his direction. He turned his head so it didn't look like he was watching, but she saw him, hoping he would figure out something about her situation.

She walked around the table slowly, looking straight at the door of the women's bathroom, right next to the door that read "MALIENS". A loud bang caused her to jump and shut her eyes, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't be long, little lady! You need to get yourself back to the truck!" he growled, having smacked a table. He glared at her and she sucked in a breath, feeling the eyes of the ginger man land on her again.

She rolled her eyes and turned around to look at the gross men who smirked at her sudden annoyance. "I have a name you know." She growled, keeping her stance steady, wringing her hands. The two men began to laugh louder then they needed to, and they grinned at each other. She looked over at the ginger man who was looking between the amused men and the nervous girl, his eyebrows cascading down in terror and interest.

Her eyes met his and she sucked in a breath, looking at him helplessly, knowing the two men were never going to let her live down the fact that she was _trying_ to stick up to them. Her face softened, beginning to look tired. She weakly smiled at him, feeling defeated by exhaustion suddenly.

"It's Amanda." She said quietly, scanning the ginger man. His eyes slightly widened and he scanned her as well. The red necks slowly stopped laughing and they both stared at the ginger man maniacally, constantly sending a few looks her way.

The ginger man, again, sucked in a breath and spun around in his chair, looking away from all of them. She sighed and looked back at the men, "Gimme a few minutes." She muttered, rolling her eyes and rubbing her hands on her shorts. She spun around and carried on her voyage to the bathroom.

Suddenly, the door the MALIENS bathroom pushed open and a large man with stubble and long brown hair came out, looking satisfied. He almost bumped into her on his way back towards the ginger man.

"Graeme—Oh, I'm sorry! Graeme!" the man called, looking at her awkwardly as she raised her brows and pursed her lips. She walked into the bathroom and spun around to push the door closed slowly, making sure it didn't slam, so it wouldn't echo across the whole building.

The moment the door closed, her heart began beating faster then it had when Gus and his lacky had picked her up. She frantically looked around the bathroom, hoping there was a window or a hatch up to the roof or something. She scampered across the multi-colored floor, looking around at some alien memorabilia, stickers people had stuck up on the walls, quotes from famous sci-fi movies and pictures of famous alien citings. She could only find one window, and it wasn't big enough for her to even get her head through, only as wide as her shoulders.

Frustratedly she stamped her foot and ran her hands through her hair and down her face. She walked into a stall and stood up on the toilets, trying to get a better look at the ceiling. But there was nothing. Nowhere for her to go.

'So much for an escape', she thought. She walked over to the mirrors and looked at herself, wondering how she had gotten to this spot.

Her hair was all over the place, she was covered in dirt and sweat, and she had rips in her clothes from trying to squirm around in the back of the truck. She had only figured out that she had been kidnapped when they didn't take the exit that would take them to the highways that could take them into the state of Wyoming in general. She quietly decided to get onto the floor and allow them to figure out that she had figured it out. Why she had gotten on the floor, she didn't know. But they figured out that she did, and decided to play with the idea that they had a "scared" hostage. They probably thought she would probably comply with anything they wanted.

But she wouldn't. Not at all.

She was in her twenties and wouldn't give up that easily. Though she had wondered how she had gotten herself into that situation if she was using the excuse that she was twenty something as how she wouldn't give up to get out. She confused herself sometimes. She especially confused herself when she would then think about why she was hitchhiking in general. She had asked some of her friends in Vegas if they could give her a ride to her families place in Moorcroft, but they were all busy. She could've saved up money to buy a bus ticket too, but instead she decided to hitchhike. Like a dumb ass.

Wearily, Amanda groaned and slumped her shoulders. She rubbed her hands together and proceeded to wash them and all the way up her arms and her neck and face to get rid of the layer of sweat. She flung her arms around to dry them off and then exited the bathroom hesitantly. She looked over at the table where Gus and Jake were sitting; the men were staring at the large man and the ginger man named Graeme.

Her eyes trailed to them and she watched as a waitress called out and appeared from the back with a large green milkshake with a sparkler sticking out of it. With her big, bright, blonde hair and low cut blue shirt, she waved it around, making fake space ship noises as she set it down in front of Graeme.

Amanda's lip twitched as she tried not to giggle at the sight of a grown man receiving a milkshake with a sparkler in it. The milkshake was set down with a clank, the fizzing continuing, as Graemes head dropped and the large one just seemed to sit still. She looked around awkwardly and shrugged.

"I'm done peeing now!" she exclaimed loudly, lifting her arms up and raising her brows in expectation. Gus and Jake narrowed gaze returned to her and they grinned.

"Well it's about time! Jake, take this empty bladdered, probably tired and hungry, young thing back to the truck! Lock her right up!" Gus laughed, leaning back in his seat, teasing her, thinking that most hostages were always tired and hungry. He had seen too many hostage movies. Besides, she had eaten just before they picked her up 3 hours before. Jake grinned and stood up.

"A 'course Gus. Come on!" he smiled devilishly. Amanda stared at his hand and then up at Graeme and his friend. Only the friend dared to turn around. He looked over his shoulder, watching her and her interaction with the small red neck. His brows raised and his mouth twisted in confused interest. But he turned back around when Gus shot him another deathly look.

The waitress looked at the two men and smiled, "Hey boys, how you doin'? You look like you two need a beer." She called, walking around the counter. Jake reached forward and grabbed Amanda's arm.

"What kind of place is this? A gay bar?" Gus asked, glaring at Graeme and his friend. Jake slowly pulled her towards the door, both of them encompassed in the present conversation.

"Just a place where you can get good eats and maybe have a close encounter." The waitress shrugged, setting her hand down on the counter so she could lean on it.

Jake laughed and his grip loosened on her arm, "Sure sounds like a gay bar." He sneered. Amanda glanced at him after noticing a slight change in Graeme and his friends' demeanor. They could tell the red necks were getting hostile.

She looked between Jake and Gus, not wanting to call them by name out loud, but at least wanting to say something, "Then…if this is a gay bar…why are we here?" she asked, trying to cross her arms unsuccessfully. Jake's hand got in the way.

Gus looked over his shoulder and glared at her while Jake just squeezed her arm tighter and tugged on it. Gus threw his hand into the air, dismissing them.

"Jake, get that little shit outta here!" he coughed.

She glared at him, her mouth dropping open and her arms flinging out in anger, "Wha—I'm just saying! Leave the two guys alone! If they wanna chill at a gay bar and you don't then let's just fucking leave!"

Jake pulled open the heavy door and shoved her outside. She stumbled, gasping. After she caught herself, she looked back at Jake who stood in the doorway.

"You better get back in that truck…or else…or else…we'll do something bad to ya'." He threatened feebly. Amanda narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine, I'll be sure to do that. Don't want to die at your hands or anything." She sighed, crossing her arms and spinning on her heels to walk back to the truck.

She didn't know their destination, and they probably didn't either. But at another rest stop, if they were closer to Wyoming, then she'd find another time to run off. No use in putting up a fight now. Jake watched her as she climbed into the large truck and sat in the drivers seat uncomfortably, the door shut, the window cracked, and the dark dashboard boiling. Her eyes trailed along the interior of the fancy truck and then out the blackened windows.

Two figures had speedily walked out of the restaurant, and they didn't look like the two red necks. So they had decided to stay, and they let Graeme and his friend leave. The large one jumped immediately into the RV and started it, while Graeme played frantically with a large sticker and proceeded to retreat to the bumper of the vehicle.

She smirked, 'So _they_ own the RV.'

He gently, but hurriedly, placed a large yellow bumper sticker on the back and then rushed into the RV. The bumper sticker read, "ALIEN ON BOARD". Her smirk grew into a grin at the sight of the sticker.

"How touristy." She spoke out loud. The lack of moisture in the car caused her voice to crack and her throat to tickle. She coughed and rolled her eyes. She laid her head against the back of the seat and then began to press random buttons all over the dash and the radio.

Unbeknownst to Amanda, though, the RV was slowly backing up right towards the truck. She lifted up her feet so she could hug her knees. In a split second after she did that, the truck tilted and the door jutted inside, smacked her. She fell over into the passenger seat, screaming as she came face to face, separated by glass of course, with the spare tire of the RV. Her eyes jotted around the back of the RV in astonishment as it pulled forward and began to drive away.

Taking in what had happened, she pushed open the door and lunged out of the car. She let the door shut on it's own before she turned back and stared at the large dent. She let out a loud laugh, staring at it incredulously.

With a quick whip of the head, she watched the RV stop before it even decided to pull out onto the highway.

In a last minute decision, she decided to run after them. Whether they did it on purpose or not, they had a lot of balls to just smash into some assholes truck and then run. She rubbed the side of her face and looked up at the restaurant.

What if they came after her? What if they came after the men and caught her as well? Then they would surely live up to a threat.

Quietly, she sucked in a breath and shook her head in defeat, "Fuck this shit. Fuck waiting for a better opportunity." She growled and peeled off her sandals. She held them both in one hand and took off at a sprint after the RV, which was just about to pull out onto the highway.

She caught up to it as it straightened out, picking up its speed. Her hand slammed down onto the door, the metallic sounds causing the RV to swerve a bit and come to a stop. In shock she almost bumped into the large machine and then almost ran past it when it stopped. She saw the thing shifting back and forth, leading up to the moment when the two men pushed open the door and stared at her in terror.

Immediately, she lifted up her hands and took a step back, holding onto her sandals tightly, "Don't worry fellas, I'm harmless!" she laughed nervously, scanning the boys up and down. They did the same, and the large one seemed to shift uncomfortably, while Graeme looked a little nervous, looking at her like she was some sort of bomb set up to go off at any moment.

"I see that you…fucked up their truck." She said, pointing back at the black truck. Graeme and his friend poked their heads out and squinted in its direction.

"Oh…uh…yes…that was me." The large one said awkwardly, pointing to himself, his English accent thick.

Her eyes shrank into slits and she slowly smiled at them, "you guys are definitely not from around here."

Graeme rubbed the back of his head and shook it, revealing his matching English accent, "No, not really."

"We're not even from this country." The large one shrugged.

She nodded, "Don't worry, I know." She laughed.

They nodded awkwardly and Graeme looked around the doorframe, the other just sort of stared at the ground in front of her, probably staring at her dirty feet. She looked down at them as well, wiggling her toes on the concrete. Graeme lifted up a hand and pointed at her, "Amanda. Right?" he asked.

Carefully she nodded, "Yup."

He looked back at the restaurant and pointed at it, "Did those men kidnap you?" he asked.

She hesitantly looked up at them and then slowly let her head fall and rise over and over again. She wasn't proud of saying yes to that question, but it was the truth.

"Welcome to America." She grinned, mocking the good old American cheer. Graeme looked at his friend and they began to whisper with each other.

"We should—"

"No we shouldn't! They could—"

"They wouldn't—"

"But they could—"

"They won't—"

Amanda sucked in a breath and raised her brows, "Could I get a ride? Please?" she asked, looking at them skeptically.

The two foreign men looked back at her and then shared a glance.

"Where do you need to go?" the large one asked.

"Um…I need to get to some place pretty far…but, you could just drive me up the road. To the next town or something." She shrugged, thinking that was a good start.

Graeme shrugged and nodded, looking up at his friend who just glared at him. Amanda rolled her eyes and shrugged, "Hey, I'm not asking for a long term relationship. I just need a ride to the closest town. After you two hit the truck, I thought, why wait for the next opportunity to split, when I have you two runnin' from the scene of the crime right now?" She exclaimed, getting their attention.

The large one sighed and began to nod, allowing Graeme to smile, "We can do that!"

She nodded, "Awesome, thanks." She sighed, smiling up at them.

Graeme and his friend stepped back and allowed her to climb inside. Graeme and his friend trudged back to their seats and sat down quietly. She went over to their couch and sat down on it, throwing her sandals by the door. She looked over at them as they started the RV and continued driving.

The entire RV was decorated like the 70's, not including their few souvenirs from conventions and other alien gift shops. She smirked at all of the big eyed, green, alien heads.

"So," she started, standing up and walked up in between the front seats, "you both know my name. And I have the general idea of yours. What's yours?" she asked, looking from Graeme to the large driver. He peeked at her and then looked back at the road.

"I'm Clive Gollings, the author. And this is Graeme Willy, my…." He hesitated.

"Colleague." Graeme finished, pressing his lips together and nodding his head.

She smirked, "Riiiiight…colleagues." She teased, looking around the floor.

Graeme laughed, "If you're thinking we're…homosexual, we are most definitely not."

"Yes, we are just good friends." Clive added, almost immediately.

"If you say so!" she shrugged, "what's this?" she asked suddenly, quirking a brow at something she found.

She grabbed a book off the floor and stared at it oddly, seeing a beautiful green alien woman with three tits and many other alien beings surrounding her. She nodded her head impressed when she saw the Authors name was his.

"Three tits…awesome." She admitted, awkwardly. Graeme smiled and pointed to himself.

"That was me." He said accomplished.

"You did this?" she asked, holding it up. He nodded, looking away awkwardly and she twisted her mouth, looking impressed.

She nodded and set the book down on the floor again, "So where are you guys planning on heading?" she asked, trying to make conversation to get through what she thought was going to be along trip to another town.

Graeme reached forward and pulled out a map, messing with it so he could hold it out flat and show it to her, "We are traveling from Comic-Con, all the way across Nevada and New Mexico, looking at UFO hot spots." He explained.

Again, she nodded, "Comic-Con. Nice. Where do you plan on stopping next?"

"The Black Mailbox." Clive said with a grin.

"The Black Mailbox? I haven't been there in ages." She muttered.

"I guess people who live here see it all the time?" Graeme asked. Amanda shook her head.

"Not really. You see it once, and you feel like you've seen it a million times. I went and saw it with my Grandma. She tried to break into it to see if there was any mail for the FBI about…certain aliens." She shrugged.

Clive's brows furrowed and he turned to her momentarily, "And your grandmother lives where?"

"Wyoming. My whole family lives in Wyoming. That's where I'm trying to get to. She believes in practically _everything_ when it comes to aliens. She actually thinks she came in contact with one once." She explained.

Graeme nodded, "sounds like we should stop there." He laughed.

Amanda chuckled and nodded, "Yeah…but thanks again for the ride." She said in advance as she got up and walked back to the couch.

"No problem. Is it all right if we stop by the Black Mailbox first? It's on the way to the next town." Clive answered with a shrug.

"I don't mind."

As long as the two red necks didn't catch up with them, she was fine with wherever they would take her. They were trustworthy. They were nice, they were shy, they were innocent, and they were perfect people to hitchhike. She could tell that they were least likely to run into _any_ type of trouble.

Well, almost any.


	2. One Girl, One Alien

**Thank you all for the reviews of my first chapter :D**

**I'm glad you all were welcome to it.**

**Now here is chapter two.**

**Again, I am not in possession of the movie Paul (nor do I own the rights to it), so if I get the original dialogue wrong (whether it be words, phrases, timing, order, etc.) don't correct me. I would know that I have made a mistake.**

**And I even add some dialogue, so then my character isn't trying to put in her word.**

**It's just seamlessly in there. **

**Read & **_**REVIEW**_

"So…how was Comic-Con?" Amanda asked lifting her feet up off the floor and resting them on the couch, laying her hands down on her stomach.

They had been driving for over two hours, and the boys had generally kept to themselves, occasionally calling back to check on her, offer her food or conversation. It never really lasted that long. It was just too awkward for her, for some reason. Something to be expected from hitchhiking with strangers, but she had the beautiful multi-colored sky to keep her occupied while they weren't talking.

Slowly, the sun was going down, and the sky was going from a light blue, to an orange-ish pink, a deep purple and finally, over the hills, was the ever-looming dark blue. The stars were even beginning to appear under the translucent moon.

"I think it went quite well, don't you Graeme?" Clive asked, looking over at his good friend, smiling happily. Graeme nodded.

"It did. We took pictures with almost _every_ Slave Leia at the con, and we even met Adam Shadowchild." Graeme boasted, looking incredibly proud of their travels. Amanda could only press her lips together and nod, staring up at the ceiling.

"Cool, cool…don't know who that is…." She finally admitted after an awkward pause. Clive and Graeme smiled to themselves, Graeme looking down at his lap before shifting in his seat to look over his shoulder at the lounging woman.

"We didn't expect you to," he started, smiling shyly, "you don't seem very into science fiction." He shrugged.

Her brows furrowed suddenly and her face contorted uncomfortably. She swung her legs over the side of the couch and planted them firmly on the carpeted floor, grabbing hold of the couch itself. Her eyes darted around the interior of the camper, thinking for a moment before she finally spoke, "I don't seem very into sci-fi?" she asked, turning her head in their direction.

Clive carefully looked over his shoulder, just for second, then looked at Graeme and then looked back at the road. Graeme shifted in his seat again, leaning forward so he could actually fully turn around.

"It wasn't meant to sound like an insult!" he said incredibly fast, lifting his hands up reassuringly. His face looked worried when Amanda looked at him, her face contorting again into skepticism.

"I know…but I figured that…since I live, well, around Area 51, you'd think I would be mistaken as an enthusiast." She said, pointing out the window to indicate their location, and then pointed to herself. She saw Graeme's mouth twitch as he awkwardly looked from her, to Clive, to the floor, not knowing how to respond. She shut her eyes and stood up, using her arms to emphasize her mistake, "I'm sorry, that sounded incredibly selfish. But I _have_ been mistaken as an enthusiast."

Clive laughed, rolling his eyes, "Are you?"

She looked at the back of his head hesitantly, "…Kinda." She shrugged.

Graeme held back a smile, looking down at the floor and slightly shaking his head. Amanda's mouth dropped open playfully and she set her hands on her small hips, "don't make that face! I kind of am! My friends have talked about Aliens enough to get me interested! And I've seen all the Star Wars and all of Star Trek! Even the shitty ones! And there _is_ such a thing as the Internet!" she pointed out, shifting her weight onto one leg.

Teasingly, Clive lifted one pudgy hand up off of the steering wheel and wiggled his fingers and hand around, dancing with the movement of his hands, "Ooooo what experience!" he snickered. Graeme laughed along and Amanda tried to hold back a smile this time.

The faces of Gus and Jake suddenly jumped into her head and she stopped trying to hold back a smile that had already faded. She looked back over her shoulder, like she had X-Ray vision to see through the back of the RV. She hoped they hadn't followed them.

If they had been following them, Clive might've seen something in the rearview mirrors, but he didn't report anything. But she was still nervous. She felt like someone was following them, or at least they weren't the only ones on the highway. Which was a weird feeling. No one _ever_ seemed to be on that highway; you would sometimes only see two cars during an entire trip. Hopefully they would make it to the Black Mailbox and then they could get her to the closest town. She didn't want to stay in Graeme and Clive's way for too long.

Graeme had spun back around in his seat and was now tapping his foot and reading the map, resting his chin in his hand. She sauntered up between them and set her hands down on the either backs of the seat, just to lean in forward so her head was in between theirs. She had a good view of the map and the steering wheel.

Amanda's sudden appearance caused Graeme to look up and flinch. He looked up and smiled at her awkwardly and she smirked at him, finally admitting to herself that he must not be totally gay. He and Clive hadn't acted like a couple, and he was acting really nervous around her. She hoped it was because she was a girl, and she was probably right, but she also thought it was because of who could be following them.

She knew he knew. And he knew she knew. Probably.

"The uh, Black Mailbox should be coming up soon. Probably in ten minutes." Graeme sighed, pulling the paper taught.

"Yes!" Clive cheered quietly, balling his hand into a fist and pumping it childishly. Amanda grinned and continued to look out the window, lowering her head to gaze up at the beautiful kaleidoscope sky.

She just nodded and in ten minutes, just like Graeme had said, they were pulling over to feast upon the Black Mailbox. She stepped right out into the cool evening air and walked a few laps around in a circle in front of the mailbox, like she was proving to herself that she was out in the open and wasn't going to be forced to get back in some truck.

The two travelers, on the other hand, had been sitting for so long that they came out of the RV stretching and groaning, cracking their backs and rubbing their eyes. Clive even tried to bend down and touch his toes. Amanda spun around and grinned at them, satisfaction lining her lips from ear to ear.

"Gentlemen…the Black Mailbox!" she said, posing and gesturing to the white Mailbox like Vanna White. Clive was the first to smile and he advanced towards the Mailbox, with Graeme quickly trailing behind. Before they could get anywhere though, they both stopped, dead in their tracks.

Unsettled, Amanda stopped posing and strode over to stand next to them, looking at them confused.

"Guys? Hey, look, I know I've only known you guys for a few hours, but I feel like you guys would be a bit more excited about this." She acknowledged, pointing at the large mailbox a couple feet before them.

Graeme nodded, "We _are_ excited…but its kind of eerie." He admitted.

The three of them looked at the Mailbox and then to each other, Amanda quirking a brow. Her eyes darted to the Mailbox again, occasionally looking back at him as she pointed at it incredulously, "That? Eerie? …It's a Mailbox…." She said staring at it.

"It's eerie, but it's amazing just seeing it in front of us." Clive added.

"…It's a Mailbox…." She said again, her brows furrowed, looking at him like she was determined to prove to them that they were mental.

It was a Mailbox that a rancher used; he had to get a second one with a pad lock because people would open it and steal his mail to see if there was mail from the FBI in it. The original black one had been auctioned off. She didn't even remember how the myth had started in the first place. Her grandma believed it.

"…Remember when we searched it up on the Internet, and then your telephone rang, and you thought it was the FBI." Graeme muttered, never taking his eyes away from the big white box covered in scratches and scribbles, spray-painted with the owners name on it.

Amanda smirked and walked forward, allowing them to talk amongst themselves about the funny tale. She stared at the face of the padlocked mailbox, trying to distinguish all of the scratches on it. Maybe she could find her cousins name and the date she signed it, or maybe find the scratches her grandmother had made in it.

Suddenly, Clive appeared out of nowhere and stood on the other side of the Mailbox, posing. Amanda looked towards Graeme and saw him with his camera ready. Like an elastic band, her mouth seemed to expand off to the sides as her brows raised and her eyes widened. She jumped out of the shot and did her best not to kick up any dust. Graeme took the picture and Clive jogged forward, switching places with Graeme.

Amused, Amanda crossed her arms and smirked as Graeme posed stiffly and Clive took the picture. Graeme rushed forward and Amanda held out her hand. Clive looked at it awkwardly and she urged her hand at him further, gesturing to the camera. He looked down at the tiny camera in his hands and set it down hers. She pulled it away and Clive led Graeme back to the mailbox to take another picture together.

"Say Battle of Los Angeles!" she grinned enthusiastically, getting them to smile. They repeated her, saying Los Angeles in their thick accents, causing her to snicker.

"How does it look?" Graeme asked as the two men started to trot towards her. She examined the camera and smirked at the dorky photo of the two of them. "It looks great." She muttered, handing him the camera.

He lifted the camera to take another picture, Clive chatting away about something that Amanda decided not to listen to. She lifted her arms up to stretch, trekking back to the RV. Her eyes flew up to the sky and she stared at the incoming stars, poking out through the darkness that was crawling across the sky.

An itch began to edge up her back and she paused, kicking the dirt as she stopped so she could reach around and scratch, using the little amount of arm flexibility she had. She scrunched up her face in discomfort and did her best to scratch.

"You all right?" Clive questioned, calling over his shoulder as Graeme finished taking a picture of the Mailbox all by itself.

"Yeah, just itchy!" she said, her voice strained as she finally finished stretching, dropping her hands to her side and slumping her shoulders. She stepped forward with a tan, outstretched arm, reaching for the door handle when out of the corner of her eye she saw two bright lights.

It wasn't as though they were obstructing her vision they were just bright, like the driver had his high beams on. She stepped away from the RV and began walking down the side of it, towards the end, walking in the direction towards the two lights. Graeme and Clives attention had also been brought towards the lights. It had easily caught their attention as well and was very surprising; they hadn't seen more than _two_ drivers on that highway the entire time they had been traveling, which was odd for the Extraterrestrial Highway, and Amanda was positive that not many cars had passed the two red necks when she was asleep in their truck.

Her eyes widened, "The truck." She muttered.

She could hear Graeme and Clive begin muttering to each other, "You don't think…." Clive began, but Graeme replied too quickly, "Can't be."

There was a point where Amanda finally decided to just stare at the two small lights in absolute horror. She had thought those two bozo's had decided to stay en route on Interstate 6, and now they were coming right there way. The dent had probably dented their ego's a bit too, inflaming it and causing more irrational thoughts than usual. They were out for blood now, and probably a bit of ass.

"Oh God." Amanda whined at the thought.

"We should get going." Graeme said rushedly, stuffing his camera in his pocket. Clive jogged right into the RV, while Graeme had to stop for a moment at the door before walking up behind Amanda. He took her by the shoulders, squeezing them, cutting off some circulation when he shakily said, "Come along Amanda, it's time to go now."

She shook her head and her eyelids fluttered. She looked over her shoulder at the man who was informing her that leaving would be best and she felt like she couldn't. She was too tired, and thinking that she might as well be running on foot into the fields to get away made her even more exhausted. But Graeme wasn't having it.

With one gentle swoop, he spun her around and led her back to the RV. Halfway there though, she figured out that she had to do this by herself. She ripped away from Graeme's grip and lunged into the RV, Graeme jogging in right behind her.

Clive was already in the drivers seat, starting the RV, when Graeme had jumped into his own seat and buckled his seat belt. Amanda just began to pace, keeping her balance quite well as Clive tried to calmly, yet frantically, pull out onto the highway and get up to the speed limit.

The dark blue was now beginning to turn a blue as dark as black, purple and cream swirls tangled throughout the stars and constellations. Amanda was pacing occasionally stepping forward to stand in between the two front scenes, biting her nails. She stared forward, hoping to see some kind of sign of a town where they could pull over and hide, and then she can worry about herself from there. She ran one hand through her stringy hair, letting out a stressed sigh.

This was too much to deal with, and she could only do one thing, "You guys I am so sorry about this." She sighed, setting her hands on either side of the seats.

Clive peered back at her and shook his head, his voice sounding equally as shaky, "Don't be sorry! We're just…road tripping…you know! People get murdered out here every day!"

Graemes mouth dropped open and he turned to look at his friend in terror. Amanda shut her eyes, her brows falling in desperation, "No they don't!" she whined.

With that, Amanda pushed her hands off the seat and ran to the back of the RV, the old thing shaking under the pressure. She snuck between the two single beds and pulled open the curtains of the small window on the back. The car was coming up right behind them, the lights brighter than ever.

When she pulled open the curtains, the horn of the car behind them began to blare, screeching right through the thin walls of the RV and into her ears. She let go of the curtain, allowing it to fall gracefully back into place, so she could cover her broken eardrums. She could hear Clive and Graeme panicking at the front of the RV, not knowing what to do about the angry driver behind them.

"Oh my God, what do we do?" Graeme cried, simultaneously jumping up and down in his seat to look over his shoulder at the back of the RV and twisting back and forth to look for something to do at the front.

Clive sounded like he was about to sob as he cried, "It's like Deliverance!"

Amanda rushed back to the front of the RV and stared around at their surroundings. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Absolutely nothing but road, dirt, grass and the looming hills ahead. She shook her head and smacked the back of the chair.

"Shit!" she growled.

"Don't yell! I'm going to have a panic attack!" Graeme whined, looking back at her.

"This is all my fault! I'm so sorry I got you guys into this—GAH, FUCK ME." She barked pulling at her hair, "I should've waited for the next rest stop! I could've run and they would've never caught up to you guys!"

"Clive do something!" Graeme ordered and Clive began to move around in his seat.

"Well what do I do?"

"Anything! Speed up! Go into—HYPERSPEED or something!" Amanda demanded, beginning to lose her patience. The other two didn't protest to her suggestion even thought they all knew it was impossible. But they probably would've suggested the same thing.

In the driver side mirror, the lights appeared in the reflection, practically blinding Clive. His foot stepped further onto the gas, almost speeding him up fast enough to dim the lights behind them. But the driver of the mystery car had the same idea and came up further along side them.

"Should I pull over?" Clive called, occasionally staring out the window. Graeme rubbed his face under stress and Amanda just couldn't help but look over her shoulder.

As Clive began to yell over and over again about pulling over, the loud car finally pulled up to the driver window and proceeded to speed past, horn still going, revealing, not a big, fat, black truck, but a small, fancy, black car. Like a government car. Amanda's heart stopped the moment she saw it cut in front of them, and she could feel the RV slowing down as Clive eased his foot off the acceleration. Her dropped mouth began to form into a wide grin as Graeme stared dumbfounded at the car.

"It's not them." Amanda whispered.

"It's not them." Graeme muttered.

"It's not them." Clive nodded, sounding surprised and relieved.

"It's. Not. THEM!" Amanda squealed, jumping up and down feeling absolutely giddy. Graeme and Clive began to smile.

"It's not them!" she squealed again, bending over the back of Graeme's seat and hugging him tightly, practically choking him. She released him and he gasped, coughing and chuckling at the same time. She jumped over to Clive.

"It's not them!" she squealed, hugging him tightly.

"Yes, we know. It's not them-" he smirked, rolling his eyes. His words were cut off on his own accord when Amanda planted a big kiss on his cheek and continued to hug him.

"Thank you so much for giving me a ride! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she sang, releasing him and spinning around happily.

Graeme smiled at Clive, "she's _really_ happy about this." He chuckled.

"You guys are like good luck charms! Oh, God, I _LOVE_ English men!" she yelled to the ceiling of the RV when there was a flash.

Her head dropped, and so did her expression when she heard Graeme and Clive screaming bloody murder as the small car in front of them spun out of control and began flipping all across the pavement. The sight she saw couldn't help but make her scream as it skidded across the road and right in front of them. She grabbed onto the seats for dear life, shutting her eyes and screaming non-stop.

Like a good driver should, Clive's lead foot took its place on the brake and the car lurched forward, shooting Amanda onto the floor with a crash. Graeme did his best to steady himself by placing his hands on the dashboard in front of him after staring maniacally at Amanda who looked like a heap on the floor, trying to wriggle her way onto her feet.

The RV, after a couple seconds of skidding finally came to a stop as Amanda was pulling herself up again, her hair going in every direction, and her shirt wrapped around her. There was one final lurch before they could really feel comfortable moving, especially after Amanda slammed into the dashboard again, gasping for air after the blow. They had stopped just before they could hit the car. Clive was breathing heavily and Graeme was as silent as a lamb, his mouth was stuck open.

Amanda slumped down to the floor, leaning against the radio, groaning, "Ugh…God DAMMIT Clive…." She growled.

He sucked in a breath, "Wha—me? I just saved our lives!" he complained, unbuckling his seatbelt and jumping out of his seat, his face covered in a look that Amanda couldn't even recognize. Graeme began to unbuckle his seatbelt, staring through the windshield at the motionless car and he stepped around the body heaped on the floor lazily.

It felt like she had gotten the wind knocked out of her. It had felt horrible.

Clive began to shuffle through cabinets pulling out two headlamps and one flashlight, tossing one of the headlamps and the flashlight to Graeme who clumsily caught them. He began to play with the headlamp, trying to slide it over the top of his head before awkwardly grimacing down at Amanda.

She had no need to ask for help; he was already rushing over to pull her up.

"Are you all right?" he asked worriedly, wrapping his arm around her waist to hoist her up even though he wasn't much aid at all. He didn't seem to have a lot of strength in his arms so she had to push up off the floor with her legs. All she could reply with was a nod. He steadied her and opened her fingers to put the flashlight in her hands.

"You both ready?" Clive asked, turning on his headlamp and shining it in their faces. Graeme cringed and covered his face. Amanda pressed her lips together and squinted as he directed it right in her face, attempting to make eye contact.

She lifted up the sleek, metal flashlight, and pressed the black rubber button, pointing it right at his face.

"I think we're ready. Are you?" she asked, her eyes still in slits. Clive covered his face as well, swearing under his breath. Graeme lowered his hand, and rubbed his scruffy chin. He spun around to look at Amanda, his hair whipping with the movement.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked again, for his own reassurance. She looked at him and nodded, turning off her flashlight. He nodded towards the door and they all quickly stepped out, Clive deciding to jump the last step. He almost stumbled into the brush from the force. Graeme looked over to check up on him, but Clive just waved him off, huffing a little.

Amanda had already moved forward, turning on her flashlight again, pointing it at the wrecked car. The lights of the RV were already pointed at it, but the flashlight helped when her shadow got in the way. A small gust of wind blew by, picking up dust. She pushed her hair behind her ears with her free hand, her green eyes peering into the darkness.

"Hello?" she called, stepping towards the car.

"Amanda? Amanda be careful! That car could've been stolen!" Graeme called, his voice hinting that someone bad could be in the car. She rolled her eyes, and then ashamedly clenched her fist. He was being careful, there was no need for her to roll her eyes.

She heard Clive give Graeme a light smack on the arm and say, "You idiot, that's a government car."

"All the more reason to steal it." Graeme said logically.

Amanda stepped away from it. She scanned the entire car with her flashlight, stopping on the driver's door, which was wide open. Her brows furrowed and she stared it suspiciously. Graeme and Clive finally caught up with her, standing on either side of her, just staring at the car that sat there so idly. Like nothing had ever touched it.

She looked between the two of them and pressed her lips together, her cheeks turning pink as a gust of wind scratched at them. She sucked in a breath and rubbed her arms, "Now I _really_ have to apologize."

Clive shook his head, "No you don't. I don't think you should ever apologize again. Or yell. Or scream, 'it's not them'." He clarified, bobbing his head back and forth.

Awkwardly, Graeme lifted his hand and pointed at the car, "I think we should go and check the car." He advised.

They all nodded and, in step, began to walk towards the car, around the driver's side to peek inside. Like a cop with a gun, Amanda held onto her flashlight tightly, her knuckles turning white. She got it ready, holding like a batter at aim, taking long, quiet strides next to the car, with Clive and Graeme tiptoeing in front of her. She had decided, by herself, that she would take up the rear. When they made it around the car, Amanda tossed her hands over their shoulders, pointing her flashlight inside the car.

It was empty. Whoever was inside had either been thrown or had jumped out when they weren't looking. The car was as empty as a black hole. Amanda dropped her hands, her flashlight at her side, and it's ray of light pointed at the ground.

"This thing isn't as fucked up as it should be." Amanda muttered, looking at it suspiciously.

"That's true…it got a lot of air while it was flipping around like that." Graeme agreed.

"The condition of it doesn't matter! Where's the driver? That's my only question!" Clive said, shrugging.

Graeme also shrugged and Amanda set her hands on her hips.

"Should we call for help?" he asked, looking at Clive with a puzzled look. Clive nodded and pulled out his phone, checking for a signal. Slowly, for accuracy, he typed in 911 and put it up to his ear, leaving the other two to wait.

"It's ringing." He assured them. Then, a noise called out from behind.

The noise that came from behind them sent chills up Amanda's spine, and made her hair stand on end. A deep baritone voice came from inside the grass, not too far behind their location, and the voice was full of warning, but sounded inviting.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Was all it said.

The three of them spun on their heels to look for whoever said it, Clives phone glued to his ear. Clive looked like a lost puppy, and Graeme looked somewhat angry and caught off guard. Amanda couldn't help but look the same way.

There was silence. Clive shifted where he stood up and gulped rather loudly. Amanda tightened her grip around her flashlight when she heard the sound of a lighter being lit, and a cigarette being sucked. She could even see the light of the flame, and the smoke rise.

Then, a hand popped into the light, and they could all hear footsteps.

"Put. The phone. Down." It said carefully.

It had fully stepped into the light, revealing a gray-green skinned being. Its skinny limbs in no way matched the size of it's stomach, and his head was twice the size of that, with no prominent nose. Its mouth was small, its eyes were big and its fingers were long. It was actually wearing human clothing; khaki shorts and flip-flops, not to mention a small backpack.

Amanda's eyes widened and her free hand slowly reached up to her mouth, covering it. Graeme held onto his caught-off-guard look, but swapped a pursed mouth for a twitching dropped jaw. Clive could only stare at it, lulling, before he smiled and began to laugh, like it was some big joke. His mind knew it wasn't and pulled him to the ground, where he now lay knocked out, having fainted from shock.

Graeme looked to his friend and Amanda could only yelp and jump away from him. Graeme began to freak out, looking from the alien to Clive in fear.

"Oh, fuck me." The alien mumbled.

"What have you done to him!" Graeme asked, stepping away. Amanda grabbed onto his sleeve and couldn't believe what she was seeing. The alien began to step towards them, his hands held up in a friendly manner, like he was giving up.

"I didn't do anything to him he fainted." He said, looking at Graeme like he was overreacting.

"Y—yeah b—b—but you made him faint!" Graeme cried, pointing at him. Amanda buried her face in Graemes shoulder.

"Yeah, but it's not like I set my phazor to faint." it joked, waving his hands around for emphasis.

Graeme's eyes widened, "You've got a phazor?" he said, his voice shaking.

The alien shook his head, "No—I don't—listen!" he threw his cigarette to the ground and advanced towards the two of them. Amanda gasped and pulled Graeme backwards.

"Hey I really need your help, okay? Can we get this guy back on your wagon?" it asked, walking over to Clive and gesturing to him. Amanda switched from one of Graeme's shoulders to the other, peeking over.

"Wha—whi—chu—wha—chu—are you an alien?" Graeme stammered, pointing in multiple directions, from the RV to the alien to Clive to the car.

"…To you I am, yes." It said, blinking and looking at him like it was obvious. Like Graeme was a total dumb ass.

Graeme hesitated before he continued, "Are you going to probe us?" he asked.

Amanda stepped away from Graeme, looking at him like he had given the alien the idea. The alien looked at her, scanning her as he began to ramble, "WHY does everyone _always_ assume that? Am I harvesting farts? How much can I learn from an ass?" he growled.

She stepped away from both of them, the alien noticed her step away and he gestured to her, "Or do you think it's cause I'm gonna be a perv, and you happen to have a chick traveling with you?" he asked, ignoring the color that Amanda's cheeks were turning as Graeme looked at her shocked at the question.

"Wha—ah—eh—what?" Graeme stuttered, looking at him confused.

The alien lifted up his hands in defense, "I'm sorry. What's your name?" he asked, pointing to Graeme.

"Um, It's Graeme Willy."

"And what's _his_ name?" it asked, pointing to Clive.

"Um…that's the writer, Clive Gollings." Graeme paused, pointing at Clive as well.

"All right, nice, and then she must be your girlfriend!" he said, pointing to Amanda. Her eyes widened.

"I have a name!"

"Ah—her name is Amanda. Amanda…."

"Amanda Nixon. And I'm certainly not his girlfriend." She finished.

"Okay, cool! I'm Paul!" he said, gesturing to himself and shrugging. Graeme looked at him oddly and said his name unconvinced. "Paul?"

"I'm in a hell of a pickle, and if you don't help me, I could _die_ on this road tonight!" Paul begged, gesturing some more to the road. Amanda looked at Graeme expectantly, waiting for him to answer. Graeme looked at the RV and scratched his ear, "W—well, I don't know. We're on kind of a tight schedule. And we're already giving her a ride." He said, pointing to Amanda.

She flinched at the mention of her name, but Paul paid no heed.

"Look, man…sometimes you just gotta roll the dice. What do ya' say?" Paul muttered, sounding tired and desperate. He sounded like he needed to be somewhere, like he needed to escape. Amanda stared at him, just examining his features and his mannerisms.

He was so human, and yet he was very much an alien. She held up a hand before Graeme could answer.

"Wait, you expect us to give you a ride?"

"Us?" Graeme questioned her, confused by her use of the word.

Paul looked at her, scanning her, "I'd hope so."

"But…you're an alien. What if you decide to knock us out and steal our organs for research?" she asked, setting her hands on her hips. Paul rolled his eyes, "Oh you can't be serious." He grumbled.

"I'm being realistic here! You're an alien on our planet, when our planet has never really had contact with actual aliens. You can't just expect us to trust you!"

"Graeme, say something!" Paul said, pointing at Amanda, seeming to be easily frustrated by a few words from her. Graeme looked from her to Paul.

"You're on a first name basis _already_? We just met him!" she cried out, feeling under pressure.

"Graeme, I know I've only known you for, like, four hours! But I know that you have enough sense _not_ to pick up a hitchhiking alien!" she protested, shrugging, directing her attention to him.

While she continued to ramble, Paul sighed and trudged towards her. The top of his head reached up to her waist, and when he lifted up his arms, they were a couple inches under her shoulders. He lifted his hand and set it on her chest.

"Hey—what the hell are you doing—" she began, looking down in disgust, when she felt as though every breath she had ever taken was sucked out, pushed out of her chest and tugged right out of her throat. Her back arched into his hand and she collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath.

"There you go, that should shut you up for a while. So…Graeme…what do you say?" he asked, turning back to Graeme and blinking innocently. Graeme looked at Amanda, his lip twitching as she loudly sucked in a breath or two. She looked at him, wondering why he was just looking at her. Like she was going to make the final decision.

She shut her eyes and just began to nod her head. Graeme turned to Paul and nodded.

"Good, thanks." Paul smiled, "Get her inside and then come help me with this one."

Graeme nodded and rushed to Amanda. He helped her to her feet and guided her into the RV. Carefully, he took her by the shoulders, careful not to squeeze her, and then set her down on the recliner she hadn't noticed behind the passengers seat. She looked up at him, still croaking like a frog, gasping for air.

"Are you all right?" Graeme whispered and she peered up at him through her hair. She shut her eyes and put one hand to her chest, and lifted up the other, giving him the thumbs up, nodding her head all the while.

He nodded, "Good. I feel like he'll never do that again…but…." He muttered.

She looked up at him, thinking about how she wouldn't have to worry about staying with them and the alien named Paul much longer. As far as she was concerned, Paul was sort of an ass hole, and Graeme was not as smart as she had originally thought, since he's allowing a rogue alien to travel with them. They would drop her off soon at the next town and Paul wouldn't have to deal with her either.

"Now that, you know, we're going to be driving with an alien…we can't drop you off just yet." He muttered, his voice sounding guilty.

Her eyes widened and she croaked at him, unable to speak.

"I know, I know! I feel like those two red necks, having kidnapped you or something, especially without consulting Clive—BUT, this isn't a kidnapping! Once we get him where he wants to go, we can take you wherever _you _need to go to…if we have time!"

She began to shake her head maniacally. He shook his head as well, "I know, but the thing is…you know that we have an alien on board…and he doesn't seem to want anyone else to know that he's here…. I'm so sorry!" he finally apologized before he jumped out of the RV and ran to help Paul with Clive.

Amanda croaked helplessly, shaking her head. She didn't want to stay, not with an alien. She was regretting hitchhiking with them, again.

She seemed to regret a lot of her decisions that day.


	3. A Pistachio, and a Camoflauge Response

**It's only been two chapters, and I've gotten so much positive feedback!**

**That's so wonderful, thank you!**

**Sorry for the wait!**

**Dialogue is super important from here on, so I waited until I actually had the movie before I continued to write this chapter.**

**I still won't appreciate corrections.**

**Crackin' down on dialogue.**

**Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait!**

Graeme let out a gasp as they set Clive down, limply, onto the couch. He stood up straight and cracked his back, having obviously struggled trying to carry his heavy friend. Paul looked as though he hadn't broken a sweat, like he was taking a walk in the park. Clive was still passed out, and from what Amanda could tell, his pants looked a little darker than before.

"Does somebody want to help me pull off his pants?" Graeme questioned, setting his hands on his hips, panting quietly. Paul looked up at Graeme skeptically, before looking at Amanda who was taking slow, deep, croaking breaths.

She looked up at Graeme and glared. He should've guessed that she wouldn't answer him. One, because she was still catching her breath, and two, she was still comprehending his earlier words about how she was stuck with them.

The sudden decision had dropped a bomb on all of her plans. Go up to her family's place in Wyoming to celebrate her and her cousin's birthdays, hanging out with old friends, and possibly spending time with her grandmother. It didn't help that, now that she was stuck with the two foreigners and one illegal alien, that she would most likely miss her cousin's birthday (which was the day before hers [which was three days away]), and that her aunt and uncle would never forgive her for missing her cousin's birthday _again_.

It was her cousin's 21st birthday, and since Amanda's aunt and uncle grew up in Moorcroft until they married and moved to Vancouver Canada, they preferred that her cousin have all of her "firsts" in their hometown. So she would be in the presence of family, and so she could actually have something nice to say about Moorcroft. So, her cousin had had her first cigarette there, her first drive as a licensed individual, her first boyfriend there (until she left town), her first time having sex there (which she was forced to tell her parents about), and now she will have her "first" drink there. And since Amanda was older than her, she was basically a chaperone, no matter how old her cousin was.

Her cousin was a bitch, so she was actually glad she was missing the birthday. But she wasn't going to miss her own birthday with her own parents, who she hadn't seen in almost a year. She also missed her grandma.

While Amanda glared at Graeme, her inner-monologue at full volume, he had taken the hint that she wasn't going to help. Paul just stepped away, shrugging, looking around the entire RV. He nodded his head in approval at the look of the old-fashioned transportation machine, adding an occasional, "Nice". He received no reaction from Graeme, but received a bad look from Amanda.

Clives pants were off in no time and Graeme was hanging them up in front of a lamp. He held them at arms length, scrunching up his nose in repugnance. Amanda squinted at him as she rubbed her pink cheeks, her croaking having quieted down. She watched Clives pants hang from the cabinets and the smell finally wafted into her nose.

She sucked in a breath that caught in her throat and she began to cough; wheezing and choking. She waved her hand in front of her face and shut her eyes, turning her head away in repulsion. Paul looked at her oddly, quirking an undefined brow

"Oh—my—did he—pee—his pants?" she wheezed, not daring to get up to run away. Without enough air, she would probably collapse anyway.

Graeme awkwardly looked at the pants, "Um, yes. He has a child's bladder."

Her mouth twitched and she nodded her head, looking at him, still, in absolute repulsion. The idea that he peed his pants disgusted her to no end. The smell wasn't helping either. Paul walked past her and jumped into the passenger seat.

"That's—disgusting." She wheezed.

Graeme shrugged, as he jogged to the door of the RV and jumped out.

"Where are—you going?" she tried to yell, but it came out as a groggy whimper. The passenger seat behind her creaked, and she kept herself from rolling her eyes. The alien was watching her, silently judging her as his big bug eyes stared somberly at the back of her head. Graeme was back in a matter of seconds, balling something up in his hands.

She squinted at it, but before she could tell what it was, he had thrown it in the trashcan under Clives pants. He spun around and clapped his hands together, trying to seem cheery.

"All right! Is everybody ready?" he asked.

"Waitin' on you dude, let's just go." Paul muttered, turning back in his seat to face forward. Graeme looked at Amanda, his lips pressed together, his hands held together. She nodded her head, her wheezing finally coming to a minimum. She would still give Clives pants a quick glance, inducing a few more coughs but she thought she was fine.

The passenger seat squeaked again to look back at her as Graeme nodded and trotted up to the driver's seat. He sat down and calmly put on his seatbelt and started the RV. He seemed more nervous about driving the RV than anything. Clive had obviously been driving the whole time, and Graeme had the luxury of sight seeing.

"Here we go!" Graeme said awkwardly in a high, nervous voice. Paul smirked and put his feet up on the dashboard.

"All right! Thanks again for the ride, I really appreciate it, man." Paul said with a sigh, looking at Graeme with a satisfied smile. Amanda looked into her peripheral vision, thinking she could see over her shoulder and around the chair, just to look at the little monster that had taken her breath away. In the worst way possible, of course.

Graeme gave him a curt nod and a smile, muttering, "You're welcome".

From then on, it was silence. Clive was sleeping; Amanda had finally caught her breath and wasn't even going to try to talk to anyone, especially not Graeme; Graeme was driving, probably planning on using that as an excuse for his silence, and Paul just wasn't interested in talking. He would occasionally shift in his seat and look around the camper, or stare at Graeme. She could feel him move the seat back and forth, along with the squeaking that came with it.

Graeme would periodically look back at Amanda who was sitting still, staring at the floor, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She wasn't really trying to think, so she just sat there looking like a zombie. Otherwise he just scanned the barren land before him, looking for sight of some kind of town.

Amanda was now starting to tell that Paul was legitimately staring at Graeme. She looked over her shoulder at Graeme who gave Paul a quick, nervous glance. Interested, she spun her chair a bit to look at Paul who had an expression filled with concern and anxiety. His big eyes darted up and down Graemes small figure.

"Doesn't this thing go any faster?" he finally asked, sounding impatient.

Graeme's eyes peered down at his speedometer, constantly looking back up to keep an eye on the road when he stuttered, "Well—wha—bu—I'm sorry. The speed limit's seventy, so—"

Paul threw his skinny arms up into the air, "Screw the speed limit!"

His reaction was changed faster than Graeme's driving, "Actually, no, oh, yeah, _don't_ screw it! That's good thinking." He nodded, pointing at Graeme and looking at him like his ability to obey the law was good thinking.

"Okay? It's inconspicuous, that's good." He mumbled to himself, as Graeme's brows furrowed and he kept looking over at Paul confused.

"How come—how come I can understand you? Are you using some sort of neural-language router?" he asked.

Come to think of it, Amanda had thought that same thing. Paul had been speaking that entire time, and they could fully understand him. She figured that he wouldn't have understood English at all, since he wasn't from their planet.

Paul's face contorted into a look of complete annoyance, the same face he made when he was complaining about Graeme's comment about probing. He turned to Graeme and Amanda looked at Paul in preparation for what he was about to say, "Actually, I'm speaking English you fucking idiot!"

Out of habit, Graeme's mouth dropped open in melancholy and his brows turned downwards, "Wha—hey—that's not nice!"

Immediately Paul turned away, "That was mean. Um, look, I'm a little tense. I was just involved in a major car crash." He said, saying it like it was no big deal.

"That was your fault." Amanda sighed, her voice growling from annoyance. All she thought of his answer was that it was just excuses.

Quietly, Paul continued, "I can't reach the pedals. My legs are too little. I had to use the parking brake okay?" he said exasperatedly. Graeme nervously looked at Paul. Amanda could only, finally, roll her eyes and turn away in disdain, examining her nails as Paul sighed.

"Sorry. You're both in _shock_ right now…" he began, sounding calm. He shifted in his seat and looked at Graeme, his face as hard as stone when he continued, "I understand this must be very weird for you. Just act normal," he looked towards the windshield for a split second and pointed at it, "and drive north. Okay?"

Amanda turned in her seat immediately, "North?" she asked aloud, but Paul ignored her. He had sat back in his seat, rubbing his fingers together as he stared out the windshield in pure concentration, looking determined and nervous.

"Gotta get as much distance as we can between _us_ and the Big Guy." He muttered, his eyes scanning the horizon. Amanda stared at the side of his head, perplexed by him. The alien wanted to go north, so far for no reason, except to get away from someone called "The Big Guy". He was acting more mysterious than he was when they had met him, and yet all Graeme can do is occasionally look at him in worry.

"Why north?" Amanda suddenly asked, her voice still weak. She wanted a legit answer. If he didn't reply, she was going to drill it into him. She wasn't going to argue with him, because she needed to go north. It was perfect. Geographically, and obviously, Wyoming is north of Nevada. But she had her reasons, and he had his. What were they?

Paul looked over his shoulder at her, still rubbing his fingers together, "Because that's just where I need to go. North." He muttered. She pressed her lips together and shook her head.

"What's so special about up north, though?" she asked, lifting up one of her legs onto the seat. She hugged it and lay her cheek down on her knee.

He was quiet for a minute. She allowed him his time to think, and if he took to long, she would ask again. But he answered, "It's how I'm getting home." He said simply.

Again, she pressed her lips together and squinted at him. She could tell it was the truth, but he wasn't telling the whole story. It was more than going home. Whether it was something else with a deeper meaning, or just something stupid that she could care less about, there was still more to it than just his explanation. She forgot about her decision to push him into answering, and left it at that.

"When you drop off Paul, you can drop me off as well. I need to go north anyways." She said suddenly, speaking matter-of-factly. She shifted in her seat and didn't make eye contact with Graeme as he glanced over his shoulder at her. The passenger seat didn't squeak, so Paul hadn't really cared. He just stared forward.

There was an awkward silence. One of them would occasionally sigh, and Clive would let out a quiet snore. The passenger seat began squeaking. Amanda's eyes darted to her peripheral vision and she squinted, looking rather suspicious. His seat shifted with the squeaking and she heard him sigh.

"So…" he muttered awkwardly. "Why are _you_ going north?" he asked, directing his seemingly forced question at her. She sat up and looked over her shoulder?"

"Me?"

"No, the limey who's driving the RV! Yes you!" he grunted, putting his hands behind his head.

Her brows furrowed and she looked back at Clive, not wanting to lay her eyes on the unworldly being. "I'm going north to see family. They live up in Wyoming and they wanted to see me for my birthday." She shrugged, leaning back in the seat.

Graeme looked over his shoulder, "today is your birthday? You got kidnapped on your birthday?" he asked.

"Kidnapped?" Paul asked with a snicker.

"Today is _not_ my birthday. It's in three days." She corrected, crossing her arms and nodding her head. Paul sat up in the seat.

"Wait, you were kidnapped? You fucking kidnapped her? Should I have even asked you guys for a ride?" Paul asked, turning to Graeme, looking insulted and annoyed.

Quickly, Graeme shook his head, his hair whipping around, "No, no! She was kidnapped by two rednecks—"

"I can speak for myself." She sighed leaning her head back, feeling extra tired now. She didn't even bother to speak at all. She shut her eyes and drowned out the quiet whispering she could barely hear. He was probably telling Paul all about what had happened at the Little A'Le'Inn.

_How embarrassing_. She thought. _Having to have some acquaintance explain your situation to an escaped alien. Whoever this Big Guy is, he must be pretty scary to scare an alien_, she thought, _who could scare an alien?_

She only seemed to have a minute to dream about this. What felt like the moment she shut her eyes, Graeme had woken her up, asking for a bag of pistachios that was set on the counter across from her. She stirred and looked across at the counter, squinting at the bag. She grimaced as began to sit up in the chair.

"I know I'm a woman, but I don't need to fetch you everything." She mumbled.

Paul suddenly snickered. The sound caught Amanda off guard and she proceeded to spin around and look at Paul as he jumped out of the passenger seat. She stood up as he walked past, lifting his hand up to stop her, "Don't worry I got it. I just need to go to the bathroom first."

"Oh…thanks…" she muttered.

Carefully, her eyes followed him until he shut the bathroom door. She was even more suspicious. She was probably going to be that way for a long time. She reached her hands up to the ceiling and let out a groan as her back cracked.

"Ahhhh…how long was I out?" she asked, turning to Graeme, itching her side tiredly.

"Um…I would say twenty minutes?"

"Oh, wonderful." She grumbled looking around the RV. She caught a quick glance of Clive waking up, but decided not to say anything. Why mention his name and wake him up faster? It was probably best that he sleep a little longer; he had been driving the RV all day. Graeme had music on; country music, that was playing quietly, so as not to disturb Clive. Amanda didn't recognize the song.

Loudly, in the bathroom, Paul was peeing, sighing in relief. Like he had been holding it for years. It was louder than the stereo, which was a fact. She stretched again, reaching down to her toes. When all bones were cracked and all muscles were stretched, she walked up behind the driver's seat and set her smooth arms down on the back of the rough chair. She stared off into the dark, dark night, staring at the stars.

Paul could've been from any of those. Any of those stars could be a far off planet, waiting for Paul to go home. He was an alien, and he obviously had a home, and Amanda couldn't help but shiver knowing that he lived somewhere else other than earth. That life forms existed on other planets.

The bathroom door flew open, the sound of toilet echoing across the thin walls of the fat RV. He let out a sigh of relief and trudged past the couch that Clive lay on. Amanda thought he must've gone back to sleep.

"Man, I needed that." Paul whispered to himself.

He grunted and snatched up the bag of pistachios. Amanda looked over her shoulder, shifting her weight onto one leg and tapping her opposite toe on the floor. She smiled at him awkwardly, only receiving a matching smile in return. He hopped in the seat and picked up a little red cup that sat on the floor. Pistachio shells were already in it.

"I love pistachios." Paul said with a smile, looking at the shells in the cup. "I hate it when you get a closed one, right?"

Graeme looked over at the cup, "I—I usually just bite them."

Paul paused, "No. You don't do that at all." He said, like Graeme was an idiot. Amanda smirked, hearing shuffling behind her. "You tap them, if you they don't open on their own, you throw them away." He finished, picking up a pistachio and waving it around, looking at Graeme with a face that read, 'I-know-I'm-right'.

"No, that's mussels." Graeme said without hesitating.

"…no, it's pistachios." Paul said, looking completely positive. Amanda caught a glimpse of him staring at her and tried holding back a smile as he smirked and began to eat his pistachio.

The shuffling from behind her grew louder and Clive's large body rushed past her. His chunky hands wrapped around Paul's neck and Paul dropped his pistachio, choking.

"What the fuck?" Paul was able to choke out. Amanda stepped back, taking her arms off of the chair. The pattern on the fabric put indents in her skin and she rubbed them.

"Holy—" she gasped.

"Clive, stop it! What are you doing?" Graeme gasped, keeping his eyes on the road, trying not to swerve.

"WHAT ARE YOU?" Clive yelled, shaking Paul around by the throat. Paul let out constant choking noises, trying to talk. Clive opened his mouth again and Amanda didn't know what the fuck he was saying.

It was like he was speaking in tongues. His voice was groggily and it didn't even sound otherworldly. It just sounded stupid. She quirked a brow at him, looking slightly worried at Paul as Clive continued to yell in this random language and strangle Paul with all of his might.

"He's okay. He's fine. He's friendly. His name's Paul." Graeme yelled, trying to calm him down.

Amanda looked at Graeme and pointed at Clive, "he was talking to _you_? You could understand him?" she asked astonished.

Clive immediately stepped back and Paul lunged forward, grabbing onto the dash. He gasped for breath his chest heaving and his eyes shutting tightly. He coughed and Amanda kneeled between the seats, hesitantly reaching for his arm.

She really didn't want to touch him. What if he was slimy or leathery or secretly furry. She wasn't ready for something like that. But she had to check on him. With one hand, she grabbed his arm, and with her free hand, she grabbed onto the side of the seat. She patted his forearm. His very soft forearm. His skin was not leathery, nor slimy, nor secretly fuzzy. It felt like human skin. It obviously didn't look very much like human skin, but it felt just like hers. Paul coughed and looked at her skeptically. She pressed her lips together and quirked a brow.

"He's not the most inviting person?" she said, trying to give words of comfort.

"Aliens aren't called 'Paul'." Clive said, his voice cracking as he grabbed onto Graeme's chair.

Paul tore his hand away from Amanda's hand and he rubbed his neck. "Was that Klingon?" he scoffed, "You psychotic nerd!" he snapped angrily, his voice weak.

"Listen—Paul is from a—a—a small M-class planet in the northern spiral arm of the Andromeda Galaxy." Graeme stuttered, trying to pronounce all the words correctly, looking to Paul for guidance. Like Paul was magical spell check.

Paul only continued to rub his neck and look at Clive with full disapproval. Like a dad who was disappointed in his little girl's prom date, "Thank you."

"When did he tell you that?" Amanda asked confused. Graeme looked up at her, "While you slept!"

"He looks too obvious." Clive said, sounding unsure of himself. Amanda smirked and stood up, grabbing both driver and passenger seat.

"There's probably a reason for that." She muttered.

"There _is_ a reason for that, _Clive_." Paul teased goadedly, nodding at Amanda. "Over the last sixty years, the human race has been drip-fed images of _my_ face on lunchboxes and T-shirts and shit." He said, explaining this to Clive animatedly, shaking around his head and glaring at him.

"It's in case our species do meet, you don't have a fucking spazz attack!" Paul growled, turning back to look out the windshield, completely annoyed.

"I did _not_ have a SPAZZ ATTACK!" Clive growled lifting up his leg and kicking Paul in the face. Amanda gasped and let out a sigh as Paul slammed into the window and Clive began where he left off: choking him. Graeme shook his head.

"Don't do it again!"

He continued to yell incoherently as Paul reached up to his neck, looking scared out of his wits and about ready to spin around and punch Clive's lights out.

"That's my fucking jorph!" he yelled suddenly, pulling at Clive's fingers. The sound of a sponge getting the water squeezed out of it erupted from Paul's neck and Clive's fingers were immediately covered in goop. "Get your fucking fingers out of there!" Paul threatened. Clive pulled his hands away in disgust.

Amanda held back a scream at the goop that had just come out of the most random of areas. Her hand flew up to her mouth and she stared at Clive's hands in horror, "EEEWWWW!" she shrieked as Paul continued to rant about his jorph.

"If I get a jorph infection, you're dead!"

"Oh my God." Graeme suddenly moaned as he stepped on the brakes of the RV. Clive twisted his mouth at the sight that had pasted onto his hands. He looked up at the windshield to discover a roadblock, done up next to a parked black car, similar to the one Paul had flipped. Clive whimpered and almost fell over on the driver's seat as Paul growled to himself, rubbing his neck.

Amanda looked up and saw a small cop with a light colored suit waving the RV over.

"Oh my God, is that the cops? Is that the fucking cops?" she gaped.

"I—I think so."

"Shit—oooohh shit!" she said, jumping around and flailing her arms, getting chills from the goop.

"Nothings wrong! Just act normal!" Graeme said, sounding calm and professional.

"Act normal? We've got Clive, the one who speaks Klingon, who happens to have JORPH goop on his hands, and some illegal alien who isn't even from this planet! That's anything _but_ normal!" she growled, pointing to Paul, bending down to yell in Graeme's ear.

Graeme carefully pulled all the way over and he looked past Amanda at the passenger seat. "Paul." He said, trying to get the aliens attention.

Silence.

"Paul?" he asked, taking a second glance at the chair. Everyone looked at it to find it empty. "Paul?" he asked again, becoming worried.

"Oh God." Amanda whined, running over to the RV door, pulling it open to reveal two gentlemen in suits. She gasped and looked them up and down.

The shortest one had been the one that flagged them down. His big pink cheeks were dented with dimples as he smiled up at her, pointing his flashlight in her face. The other one was taller and thinner, with a black suit. He smiled at her devilishly, like he was up to something. His flashlight was pointed in other places. She squinted and looked between the two of them.

"Hello, we're from the Police Department. We're just here for a regular inspection." The tall one said, trying to keep his voice deep and smooth.

Graeme and Clive appeared behind her and the face of the tall one seemed to drop. He pointed his flashlight at the two of them.

"Would you all mind stepping out of the RV, please?" he said, stepping out of the way.

Amanda sucked in a breath and carefully stepped down into the dirt, looking back to see if she could peer between Clive and Graeme, to see if Paul was there. Right as she was about to get a good look, the small cop scooted past her.

"Excuse me." He said quietly.

"What is this about?" Graeme asked. The flashlight was pointed at his face.

"Just a routine check-up. Don't want you to have picked up anything…unnecessary." The tall one shrugged, sounding like he didn't even know.

"Oh…wonderful…" Clive muttered. The three of them had lined up one by one and the police officer pointed his flashlight at all of their faces. The officer dropped the flashlight away from their faces, taking a step back to peek inside as his partner lazily looked through Graeme and Clive's things.

"So what brings you to the USA?" the man in black asked, lifting his flashlight and pointing it at Graeme.

"Uh—" he flinched, "We're on holiday."

Clive looked off in the distance as he said, "we've been to Comic-Con." His voice sounded isolated and he looked like a child who had lost all emotion. Almost emotionally drained.

"Comic-Con? …Don't tell O'Reilly. He loves that dweeb shit." The man in black muttered, pointing into the RV.

"Is O'Reilly your partner?" Amanda piped up, the flashlight immediately blinding her.

"…Yes."

"Oh…and what's your name?" she asked, trying her best not to shield her eyes or look straight into the light.

"…Agent Haggard."

Amanda nodded and looked around.

"…You guys know Benny Hill?" Haggard asked, looking from the RV to the two Comic-Con dwellers. The two of them looked at each other, beginning to nod their heads.

They both responded with no's. Amanda bit her lip and looked down at her dirty toes, wiggling them in her sandals.

"OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THIS!" O'Reilly shouted from the RV. The four of them jumped and looked at the RV.

"What?" Haggard asked, reaching for his belt.

"Look at this!" O'Reilly yelled.

"What?" Haggard demanded, pulling out his gun.

Amanda reached for Clive, who was standing on her right. She grabbed his sleeve and stared at the door of the RV worried. Graeme looked like he was about to have a heart attack, staring at the door like it was the door to hell.

It might as well have been. With what O'Reilly could find, they were probably one step closer to getting there.

And Amanda was one step further from going home.


	4. Two Cops, and Her Center

**Oh look, it's another chapter!**

**While I was away, taking care of senior stuff, I actually got some messages from people begging me to update.**

**It was interesting and very flattering!**

**So I thank you all, and I'm sorry I've been keeping you waiting.**

**But here it is! ANOTHER CHAPTER.**

**FYI, I'm not very good at sexual tension, and it all comes out very random, but prepare for MAJOR awkward, sexual tension in the next few chapters.**

**I do not own Paul!**

**Read & **_**REVIEW**_

"These guys have met Adam Shadowchild." O'Reilly said, walking down the steps and leaning on the door frame. He held up a book that had his signature on it. He looked downright impressed.

Amanda remembered the name because Graeme had mentioned it earlier. Speaking of Graeme, she turned to look at the two men and saw they were looking at each other, like they had freaked out for no reason. Clive looked at Graeme like he had just wet himself again and Graeme looked somewhat dumbfounded. She was just relieved.

"Who the hell is Adam Shadowchild?" Haggard asked, turning to Graeme and Clive.

"He wrote…_The Jupiter Praxis_." Clive began, trying to say it with full confidence. Graeme watched him carefully. "What?" Haggard immediately replied with a grimace.

"_Jenny Starpepper and the Huge White Gibbon_?" Graeme asked, expecting him to know that title. It obviously wasn't convincing him though. Haggard had no clue what he was talking about. All he could answer with was, "Huh?"

Amanda chimed in, "Night of the Moths?" she suggested, throwing out a random name. Graeme and Clive turned to her, looking at her rather astonished.

"Are you guys speaking English? What are you talking about?" Haggard muttered quietly, looking at them like freaks. O'Reilly began to stutter and sputter, jumping out of the RV, hopping right next to Haggard.

"I thought you said you'd never heard of him!" Clive hissed.

"You mean that's an actual book! You guys were saying weird shit so I decided to throw something out there!" she hissed back.

O'Reilly waved his hand at Haggard, smiling, "Brilliant!" he paused, "what was he like?" he asked the three of them. Amanda lifted her hands up and took a step back, pointing at the other two. Haggard's flashlight quickly lifted from his side and pointed at her suspiciously. She blocked it and cringed at the bright orb.

Graeme looked at Clive, admittingly saying, "He was a bit intense." The little pink-cheeked man just nodded and said to them matter-of-factly, "Well, he's an artist."

His partner looked down at the book in his hand, squinting at it. He reached out and snatched it from O'Reilly; changing the direction of his flashlight to the book, "Let me see this."

The light blinded the cover of the book so he had to adjust as he said, "What is this, nerd porn?"

Clive reached up to play with his necklace as Graeme pointed at him and began, "No, that's Clive's—"

"It's my novel." He said for himself, looking embarrassed. O'Reilly's eyes bugged out of his head and Haggards lip sort of twitched. "Okay!" O'Reilly said lightly, both of them, at the same time, looking back down at the book.

They stared at it for a moment before Haggard smiled, "Ha. Three tits." He said in an unusually high voice, "That's awesome." Amanda bit her lip at the sound of there reaction. So alike and yet so different from her own. O'Reilly looked between the book and it's author and began to suggest, "You guys should have given her four tits."

Awkwardly, Clive looked around as Graeme looked at him like he was some disgusting human being, uttering, "That's just sick."

Amanda let out a quiet snort and played with the hems of her shorts. O'Reilly just shook his head, shrugging, looking back down at the book, seemingly apologetic. "I was just sayin'."

Suddenly, they began to whisper to each other, pointing at the book.

"Hey, do you think this is it?" O'Reilly asked, seeming excited.

"Doubtful. What else did you find in there?" Haggard said rather loudly, gesturing back to the RV. Hesitantly, O'Reilly looked up at it, "Not much. Just some pissy jeans."

Everyone looked directly at Clive after that comment. Clive didn't dare look down at the towel he was wearing as the rest of them stared him up and down, judging him and his piss-soaked jeans. Graeme rubbed his hands together, "Clive's got a child's…"

"Shut up." Clive grunted.

"Sorry." Graeme whined.

Haggard pressed his lips together, "Okay. You guys can go." He sighed, waving them into their RV with his flashlight.

"Thank you." The two men said in unison. Graeme gestured for Amanda to go first.

"Thanks so much!" she said awkwardly, looking back at the two officers who she couldn't help but notice were staring back at her just as awkwardly.

Clive reached out to Haggard, "Can I have my…thank you very much." He said as the comic was pushed into his hands. Graeme shoved Amanda gently through the door as Clive paused and turned to the officers.

"May I ask what you're searching for?" he asked. Amanda paused and waited to hear what they had to say, unable to see their faces now that she was fully in the middle of the RV. Graeme had also stopped to peak out to watch.

Silence.

"No."

And that was all they said to Clive.

Graeme and Clive turned back towards the interior of the huge beast, "Thank you. Come on, Graeme." Clive said rather hastily.

Rather oddly, the officers closed their door for them. They could hear them talking and chatting as they walked past the RV. Clive got into the driver seat in silence though and Amanda couldn't help but feel the tension.

She looked around the whole RV and couldn't find any sign of the alien they had been looking for minutes before. He was there, she was positive. The thing had practically choked her without touching her. And yet, he was gone. O'Reilly didn't even find him, and if he did, he didn't mention it. That must've been what the tension was about.

She grabbed the driver and passenger seat and looked between the two of them. "Now that we don't have Paul…can you guys still take me to Wyoming?" she asked, trying not to ask too much of them now that the fourth wheel of their troop had rolled off the bandwagon.

Neither of them said anything as Clive turned on the RV and put it into gear. They pulled off and around the barricade and cop car and drove onto the highway, slowly picking up speed.

It wasn't until they had reached 30 miles per hour that Clive finally spoke, having noticed Graeme peering out his window to check the distance between themselves and the officers. Amanda had walked back and sat on the couch, not knowing how to feel. One minute she was annoyed, the next she was disgusted, then she was horrified, then she was relieved, now she was a little disappointed and felt a little selfish. They all had heart attacks and felt like they had all gone mad when Paul disappeared like that. And for her to decided to ask to get a ride to Wyoming even after all that had happened made her feel even worse.

"I think it's pretty obvious what happened there, isn't it?" Clive said, sounding rather hostile.

"Is it?" Graeme asked, sounding unsure.

"We—the government used some kind of neurotoxic paint on the Black Mailbox." Clive said, trying to come up with an explanation.

Amanda quirked a brow and looked down at her hands, "What does paint have to do with being pulled over by the cops?"

"No, it caused us to suffer a shared hallucination about an alien." Clive continued. Graeme mouth opened to say something as Clive spoke but nothing came out. Amanda stood up and walked to stand being them as he spoke.

"It makes complete sense." He said, shrugging, sounding completely sure of himself.

Out of thin air suddenly came the sound of water being sucked up into a vacuum, magnified by ten. Paul appeared out of nowhere right in front of them on the dashboard, completely naked. No shorts, no shoes, nothing.

"WRONG!" he said, his hand rested under his head and his legs spread for the world to see.

All three of them began screaming at the sight of him, Graeme closing his eyes and turning away as they went over a bump. Clive slammed on the brakes and the tires began screeching. Amanda continued yelling as she flew forward and sprawled out onto the floor. She quickly did her best to stand back up on her feet and push her hair out of her face, "Why do I keep doing that?" she growled to herself, pulling at her hair.

"Oh, no!" Clive groaned, shaking his head and glaring at the road. Paul slid off of the dash, "What?" he asked, sounding offended.

Amanda looked down at his exposed area and gasped, covering her eyes and stepping away from him. Paul squinted at her and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, grow up. You guys seen my shorts?" he asked, his eyes darting around the front of the RV.

"H—How did you do that? How did you go invisible?" Graeme asked looking at the dashboard, pointing at it like a Star Trek teleporter was going to appear as well. Paul reached down at grabbed his shorts, beginning to pull them on.

"Oh, it's a camouflage response." He nodded. He looked over his shoulder at Amanda and smirked.

"It's all good toots, you can open your eyes." He laughed.

"What, so you're like predator?" Graeme asked as Amanda's hands slid down her face. Paul nodded and his face lit up, "Exactly! Although I can only do it while I'm holding my breath." He added, not letting that take away from the fact that he can turn invisible.

"But you can do it anytime you want?" Graeme asked, looking at him seriously, just to clarify.

Paul lifted his hands up to his face and Amanda's brows furrowed, "Anytime." He said in a deep growling voice.

She actually recognized the voice and the reference so she began to laugh with Graeme who was also amused. Paul began making robotic sounds, pointing his hand around like a gun, beginning to grunt like one of the Predators.

"That's just like him." Graeme giggled and Amanda sat down beside Paul in the recliner, unable to contain her laughter.

"Sounds practically identical!" She laughed, Graeme nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, Clive groaned in frustration, smacking the wheel, "Am I the only sane person here? Eh?" he asked, turning to Graeme and peering back at Amanda. She shut her mouth quickly and looked at Paul and Graeme. Graeme didn't really know what to say, at least that's what it looked like.

"It's all right for you, isn't it?" he asked, looking back at Paul. "You'll go back to Area 51!" Paul looked down at the floor, not guiltily, but rather depressingly. "We'll be arrested for harboring a fugitive _and_ kidnapping an already kidnapped young girl and then sent to Guantanamo Bay!" Clive said, gesturing the Graeme.

"You can't be arrested for kidnapping me if I came with you on my own." Amanda jumped in, shaking her head reassuringly. Paul looked around and then shrugged.

"Why don't I go make some bagels and coffee? Leave you two alone." he said, turning to walk back to the mini-fridge. He gestured to Amanda, "You want some?" he asked.

She looked up at him and pressed her lips together, nodding. He walked back to the kitchenette, humming to himself. Carefully, she stood up and walked up behind Clive, patting his shoulder.

"What's the matter, Clive?" Graeme asked, looking at him worriedly.

Clive looked at him and lifted one hand off the wheel, using it to emphasize his words, "There is an alien in the kitchenette, making _bagels_ and _coffee_." He said, his tone describing how ludicrous it was.

Amanda cringed, not wanting to ask, but decided anyway to say, "…Did you want tea?"

He looked over his shoulder at her, "No, I _don't_ want tea!" he said irritatedly.

"Right, because tea is weird in America." Graeme said, agreeing with his own statement. Amanda squinted at him, feeling slightly affronted by his comment. "They leave the bag in." He said moving his hands around.

"What's weird, Graeme, is that we've picked up an extraterrestrial hitchhiker and you seem completely fine with it!" he said, like he had reached his limit with Graeme's acceptance and innocence.

Amanda shrugged as they heard Paul singing, "Bagels and coffeee….oh! Marmite!" he said happily, reaching into the fridge.

"He said his life's in danger! He needs our help, you know?" Graeme said quietly, feeling bad. Amanda nodded and shifted her weight onto one leg, tapping her toes. "He did say that. And, Graeme does seem to have good judgment. I mean…he trusted me." She said, pointing to herself. Clive peered over his shoulder and slightly shook his head. She patted him again and looked at Graeme.

"…Sometimes, you've just gotta roll the dice." Graeme said, looking sure of this statement after much thought. Amanda recognized the phrase, causing her to quirk her brow. She looked back at Paul as he continued to rummage.

Clive looked to his friend, "What if we wake up and find him inserting a probe into our anus?" he said, like he thought Paul was going to do it at that very second. He looked back at Paul suspiciously.

"Apparently they don't do that." Graeme replied, shaking his head. Amanda pressed her lips together and stared forward, waiting for Clive to retort. But he didn't.

Instead, Paul's hand raised between the seats, his long index finger pointed to the ceiling with two bagels wrapped around it, like ring toss. All three of them turned to look at the bagels as he wiggled his finger, "Anyone want one of these? Eh? Anyone? Anyone? Eh?"

Graeme opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say as Paul waved them back and forth in front of the three of them. They all just sort of looked away awkwardly, continuing to drive on. Slowly, the two men eventually took the bagels, eating them in silence.

Paul served Amanda her bagel with a small packet of cream cheese he had found God knows where. Amanda took it and dangled it in front of her face.

"Where did you find this?" she asked, cringing.

"In the fridge. Where cream cheese belongs." He said, walking over to the recliner, just diagonal from her spot on the couch. She looked from him to the bag, feeling skeptical of the whole thing.

"Do you know how long it's been there?"

"Not really. But I expect not that long. I feel like they must've known it was there." He shrugged, leaning back in the recliner. She smirked and stared at the packet oddly as she squished it between her fingers and wiggled the package around.

Paul rolled his eyes, "Come on, it's a packet of cream cheese, not a fucking dead animal. Don't poke it, just open it!" he laughed, pointing at it.

She smiled and eventually stopped playing with it. She looked down at her bagel and then back at the cream cheese, "I think I'll just eat this plain. You can…take this back." She said, tossing it to him.

He caught it and smirked, "Fine. Don't accept my generous offer. Just trying to give you as many rations as possible." He shrugged nonchalantly. She rolled her eyes, "if you're going to be so dramatic, why don't you just open it up yourself and eat it?"

He glared at her, "Challenge accepted." He said, beginning to open it.

Lifting up her bagel gently, she took a bite out of it. The bagels were surprisingly not too stale. She had fun, though, watching Paul trying to open the cream cheese packet. He too seemed hesitant to open the cream cheese bag.

"So, you're going to see family up in Wyoming?" he asked, looking only mildly interesting as he set the bag down on his knee. She finished chewing another bite and nodded, covering her mouth as she spoke with a few chunks of bagel in her teeth, "Yeah. My birthday's in, like, three days. I've been living around Vegas for the past year, so I'm making sure I get back home in time to see them."

He nodded, "I see. Trying to get into the dancing business?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows. She shuddered at how he said it and she immediately shook her head, "There are better ways to get money in that city. I'm good at math, so I was hoping to do something with the money at the casinos." She said before taking another bite, her bagel almost gone.

"Riiiight. I feel like the only way to get the best money in that town is to whore around."

"Not even." She said, shaking her head, glaring at him. "Granted, you do get very good money, but I want to keep my dignity thank you very much." She said finishing off her bagel the moment she had swallowed down the bite she had taken before.

He quirked a brow, "So, you are working at casino's cause you can't dance?"

"Wha—I never said I couldn't dance! I'm…very flexible actually." She admitted, wiping the crumbs off of her legs, looking around awkwardly.

He nodded, "Thaaat's what I was looking for. Now that you are sure of your talent, you have something to fall back on." He shrugged.

Amanda quietly shifted on the couch and shook her head; "My family would not be pleased to find out I got advice to go into stripping from an alien hitchhiker." She muttered.

The two of them looked up at Clive and Graeme who conversed quietly at the front of the RV. She cocked her head and looked at them oddly, examining the two friends. Paul shifted in his seat and turned around to look at the two men. He looked back at Amanda and rested his elbow on the armrest.

"What're you staring at them for?"

"…Do you think they're gay?" she asked, continuing to stare at them.

Paul shrugged, "Kind of. They sure as fuck act like it."

"Maybe we should ask them?" she asked.

"Eh. Later." He said, leaning back in the chair.

She nodded and leaned back in the couch, looking around the RV. It was becoming too familiar, she realized. She knew where everything was now, from her own rummaging. She wanted to get home. Noticing Paul staring, she looked over at him.

"Yes?"

"If you work in Vegas, how do you not have enough money to get a bus ride to Wyoming?"

She sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, "Oh, yeah, uh. I had the money, buuuut I fell asleep at the bus station and someone took my purse."

He quirked a brow, "Really? Someone took your purse? How petty of them."

She laughed, "Yeah. I was kinda pissed. Then I went for a walk down the highway."

"Suicide is never the answer." He mentioned and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't even joke about that." She laughed, "and that wasn't what I was thinking. Not at all. It was pretty late, so it was still kind of cold. I decided to try and walk. So I did, not knowing where I was going. Early the next morning two rednecks picked me up and I was stuck with them. Then, my two knights in shining armor rode in inside their tin can and I hitched a ride with them, completely forgetting my bag in their truck. Luckily you found the two most trustworthy guys in America to pick you up." She laughed, looking down at her feet. The outlines of her flip-flops were disgustingly indented into the tops of her feet.

"And they're not even from America. I thought I had found purebreds." He laughed. She giggled as well, smiling at him.

He smirked at her and examined her from head to toe, "You aren't even gonna ask me why I'm going north?"

She shrugged, "None of my business I guess."

"In other words, you don't give a fuck."

Her eyes widened, "Well—no—I do! I just…it's not my business!" she shrugged defensively.

"It's fine if you don't care! It's not anything too important…unless anyone starts following me." He muttered.

"I don't think we're gonna follow you home…at least I'm not."

Paul chuckled and again examined her head to toe. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the chills his big eyes sent down her spine and rubbed her arms, "But…only because I…just…I don't feel comfortable with you, I guess?"

"Comfortable? Oh shit, this isn't another one of those probing fears is it? Seriously? What the hell." He said, sitting up and throwing his arms into the air, fed up.

Amanda shook her head, "No! It's not the probing thing! It's…your…well…an alien. Obviously. Its just weird." She said, standing up and putting up her hands like it was time to stop talking about it. She started to walk back towards the beds, moving around everything. The talk with him was beginning to make her feel more uncomfortable than she already was.

She had never confronted anyone about how she felt about them, especially in a negative way. She felt like she was being racist. Which was stupid.

"I don't care what you guys say, I'm taking one of these beds." She called. The two men shifted in their seats and looked back at her, "Um, sure?" Graeme called back.

Paul jumped out of his seat and followed after her as she sat down, "Do I really make you uncomfortable? Me being an alien?" he asked, sitting on the other bed.

Amanda looked up at him, her face blank as stone, "Only…slightly. It's just a weird, like…the idea of you. I guess. Hopefully that makes sense?" she asked. Paul looked around and reached out, pulling closed a curtain that would cover the door. He sat back down and smiled at her.

"Look. I understand that it's weird. I addressed that before. You can find me weird all you want, but I can do more than just weird people out."

She quirked a brow, "Oh, like choking people." She said, crossing her arms. He opened his mouth to say something, but he decided not to, slumping his shoulders and letting out a sigh.

"More than that too! I can…check peoples chi? Or their zen? Whatever the fuck you wanna call it? I can help people chill out. Find inner peace." He shrugged. She uncrossed her arms and glared at him. "You must be _really_ popular with the hippies."

He shrugged, "I probably smoke more than they do anyway."

"And there's no…scientific word for this inner peace stuff?"

"Nah, there is. But I don't want to use too many big alien words around you."

"Oh, how considerate." She joked.

As she spoke, he stood up and stepped towards her. "Just let me show you okay? It won't hurt or anything." Her eyes darted around the room and slowly nodded. "Alright. What do I need to do?" she asked.

He stepped closer and gestured to the bed, "Just lay down and I'll do the rest." He said, clapping his hands together, rubbing them profusely. She cautiously lifted her feet up to the bed and twisted her body so she could lay down flat. He grabbed one of the suitcases that was under one of the beds and stood upon it, so he could be level to the bed. He raised one hand out of her stomach, and the other out over her knees.

"You sure this won't hurt."

"Not even a bit." He said, shutting his eyes, "Now just relax."

Loudly, she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before closing her eyes and relaxing her entire body. Immediately after her muscles relaxed, she could feel every weight just lift off magically. The place where his hands would be touching began to heat up, like they were some sort of heat lamps. He grazed them over her body, never actually touching her skin or clothing. But she could feel it, and that's what sent her skin crawling in the best way possible. She began to get goose bumps as her whole body seemed to straighten and she seemed to be floating. She couldn't feel the itchy blankets beneath her and could barely feel her clothing touching her body. It was like being in heaven, her entire body emanating more heat than it was taking in. Her eyes darted behind her lids as the heat suddenly was focused on one point. One point she didn't want anyone anywhere near, especially not an alien. Who happened to be male.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously, wanting to move her body, but something wasn't letting her.

"Relax. I'm finding your center." He assured her. She immediately seemed to relax at his words.

"Isn't it convenient that my center happens to be—" she began to say, but was immediately cut off by a surge of pleasure. She gasped and clutched at what she thought was blankets and bit her lip to keep her from making a sound. She had no idea why his hands were hovering there, but after that little wave of intense bliss she didn't really care. The heat was becoming more and more powerful, and she knew that through her dark lids, he was smiling. He was enjoying her "pain". He was practically torturing in a way he knew she wouldn't want to stop. There was another wave of concentrated enjoyment that went through her body when she finally let out a moan, like it was the first time anyone had gotten close to touching her like that. But he wasn't touching her, which was what was another problem. She knew he wasn't touching her. She was being pleasured by an alien.

"Hey you guys? What's going on back there?" Graeme asked. She could hear his seat moving and squeaking. She was even beginning to hear his footsteps. Finally, letting out another, even louder moan, Paul lost concentration and stepped away from her. Just like that, her body seemed to collapse back onto the bed; the itchy fabric, the hard mattress, everything, she could feel. She let out a sigh, as her body seemed to cool down.

"Nothing!" Paul said calmly.

Amanda's eyes fluttered open and she examined the room. It was seemed so fuzzy, like she had squeezed her eyes shut so tight that everything was going hazy. Nothing looked real, until she was face to face with Paul.

"You're body is surprisingly symmetrical. It was very easy to find your center." He smirked. Her eyes widened and she sat up, feeling completely vulnerable and rather dirty. She stood up and kicked him wherever she could. Which ended up being the best place possible, where it hurts. She kicked him right through the curtain.

"GET OUT! I _HATE_ ALIENS!" she screamed as he stumbled out of the "bed room" and ran into Graeme.

"What was that all about?" she could hear Graeme ask.

"Oh, nothing. Just getting to know each other." He said devilishly. She jumped onto the bed and screeched into the stinky moth balled pillow. She felt her body begin to relax and she turned her head so she could look at the rest of the room.

She was certainly going to be familiar with the RV now.


	5. A Nightmare, and a Dream

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>But I think after this chapter I have to focus on my other stories, cause they really need some updating.<strong>

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She awoke to snoring. Loud obnoxious snoring that poured right out of a large mans mouth. Her lazy lids pulled themselves up like broken window shades and she squinted at the man, unable to make out his face. His form was fuzzy and she could only point out large details, like the different colors. He let out another snort and Amanda flinched at the noise, which seemed to intensify.

Recently, she had taken up lying on her stomach, which proved to be a nasty habit when she would conveniently fall asleep on her arm. Which she just happened to do. With one arm numb and the other one inconspicuously cold, she raised her good hand and rubbed her face, massaging her eyes. They suddenly began to sting and she sucked air in through her teeth, hissing like a snake.

"God—mother fucking damnit." She growled as she slowly sat up, remembering one little detail. She had left her contacts in. She had even forgotten that she wore contacts.

Last night she was too busy dreaming about being kidnapped by two rednecks before hitchhiking with two English men, who then decided to pick up an alien and give him a ride to Wyoming. Not only that, but she hoped that she hadn't spoken aloud in her sleep, or else someone on the bus would've known that in that said dream, she was being touched by the alien and was therefore gasping and moaning like she was having sex. She begged that that hadn't affected her sleep talking, which she was only slightly positive she even did in the first place. But, she woke up on a moving vehicle, so it must've been a dream. Which made some sort of sense.

The seats that she had fallen asleep on were itchier than she remembered them being when she had ridden on that bus before, but they must've changed the fabric. But, she had to get her contacts out now and find a way to get to her glasses and put them on.

How did she end up on her stomach on such small seats though? She set her feet on the ground and wiggled her toes. She could feel dirt between her toes, and fuzzy carpeting. Harshly, she lifted her good hand up and smacked her numb arm before rubbing her eyes again and looking down at her toes.

"When the hell did they get new carpets on these things?" she grumbled before standing up. She looked down at the form of the sleeping man before her eyes began to sting.

"It's so dark in here…how the hell did that guy get those seats like that? Completely opposite of mine…" she muttered to herself, thinking no one else could hear her. She held her hand out to the wall to reach for support when her hand smacked into a soft curtain and a hard window. Gasping, she pulled her hand away, rubbing it.

The large man stirred in his sleep and then turned over. Her brow quirked at his movements and she looked around the room, "This doesn't look like a bus at all…what the fuck did I get on?" she growled, pulling at the thick fabric of the window curtain. Slowly, she pulled it back to reveal the backdrop of the desert, with the diagonal shadow of "the bus". It was the middle of the morning, the perfect time to get up.

"What the hell." She sighed, not understanding what was going on.

The vehicle rocked back and forth like it had gone over a bump and she stumbled back onto the bed, sitting down as calmly as possible. She sighed again and reached up to her eyes, pulling her lids up, her eyes moving in that direction as she poked around for her contacts. Gently, she pulled them out one by one and held them on her fingers.

With a heaving sigh, she realized she wouldn't be able to find her luggage to get her contact case. Luckily she had an extra pack of contacts and could just get them later. She could just dispose of the dry ones she was holding, so she flung them into nowhere, not caring where they landed.

"Now. Time for my glasses." She muttered, reaching down to the floor where she expected her bag to be. Her glasses were only necessary for reasons she thought were unknown. Unlike most, she wasn't far sighted or near sighted, so she didn't know what she was. When she reached down, she grabbed a suitcase but it didn't seem as small as her own. She remembered packing much lighter.

That was odd to her, seeing as how she rarely ever packed weeks worth of clothes for a short birthday trip home. She was only going to be there for a couple days, and her parents had a washer and dryer for her to use. Would her glasses even be in that bag?

"Clive? Clive! Get up! We need to stop for gas!" a voice called. Her head jolted up and she looked at a dark mass with a crack of light at the bottom of it. Like a door, like she had gotten her own room. With an extra person of course. His name…must've been Clive.

The large man on the bed opposite of her shifted and groaned. He rolled over again until he was able to plant his feet firm on the floor, which then allowed him to rest for a minute before actually standing all the way up. He looked at her for a moment, noticing her stare. She could barely see the whites of his eyes.

"Morning." The man said, his accent thick and very much English. She froze and looked away from him, darting her eyes anywhere around the room. "Good morning." She muttered.

He stood up slowly and walked through the curtain to the front of whatever the hell she was riding on. Light flushed into the room and she squinted. Through the haze she could see faint outlines of a couch and three seats, maybe even a kitchenette. Her body started to shake.

"Oh no. Ohhhh no, no, no." she muttered.

Three voices began to talk, two of them sounding English and the other one sounding too American for it's own good. Which was odd of her to think. They were conversing about something and one of the men, which must've been the large one, was complaining about being woken up.

He sucked in a breath, "So you just _had_ to wake me up to get gas?"

"Yes, and so we could all decide what snacks we all want." Another man said, he voice sounding mousy and weak.

"I just need some chips, man. They sound good right about now." The American voice said. Amanda stood up and walked to the door frame as the vehicle started to slow to a crawl and pull off the road. She could hear the rocks being squished under the tires.

"Why didn't you get her up? She's awake anyway?" the large man asked walking to the door of the vehicle, not noticing her standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

"Oh, I didn't think she was hungry. And you're right! She is awake! Good morning!" the mousy man said, walking in her direction, his outline going from slightly fuzzy to very distinct, as he got closer. The sight of his face made her heart stop. One of the faces from her dream.

The other man was just as familiar too, but it was too dark to tell before. Her knees began to wobble as he reached out to grab her shoulders. "Are you all right?"

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh. My. God. You have _got_ to be kidding me—that wasn't a dream?" she asked him. The man looked over his shoulder at the large man who had stopped in the doorway.

"What wasn't a dream?"

"Meeting—you! And that—alien!" she shrugged as her knees continued to weaken. He did his best to hold her up. "No that was very much real!" he said, looking at her worriedly.

She raised her brows and looked him square in the hazy eye, "…Graeme?"

He also raised his brows and then looked around awkwardly, "…Yes?"

Amanda, dramatically sucked in a breath and let out a moan, "Oooooooh nooooo." She whined, falling into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Wha—what's wrong? Are you hungry? There's a gas station…let's just—go get some food!" he shrugged, pulling her off of him and directing her towards the door. She took normal strides, trusting her judgment as her eyes went in and out of focus randomly. The passenger seat at the front of the RV squeaked, which she remembered was definitely an RV and not a bus, which in turn made her flinch.

"You okay, toots?" a deep American voice asked.

"Oh shit it's the alien." She growled to herself, Paul flushing back into her memory. The stuff he did to her the night before.

"I'm fine. Just…left my glasses with the red necks…that I really wish weren't real. I really wish this wasn't real." She mumbled to herself quietly so they couldn't hear. Clive stepped back and let Graeme lead Amanda out.

"Did you have fun last night?" Paul teased. She glared inwardly and didn't acknowledge him as she stepped down towards the door.

"Okay. So we want chips and a few drinks." Graeme muttered before he paused in front of the door and awkwardly pushed it open, like he was expecting someone to be standing there, waiting for him to open the door and greet him or her.

Awkwardly, he looked around outside and then stepped out, allowing Amanda and Clive to follow behind. Clive reached out and shut the door, hoping no one had looked inside and gotten a glimpse of Paul.

"Let's be careful now. Inconspicuous." Graeme muttered.

"If you want to be inconspicuous, relax." She muttered back, looking out towards the building.

Suddenly, the high pitched, rather nasally, horn started to go off at a constant rhythm. Amanda retracted from the noise while Graeme and Clive seemed to jump right out of their shoes, Graeme letting out a yelp. They all three turned around to stare at the passenger window, all squinted.

Paul's face appeared in the window, appearing slightly detailed despite Amanda's vision, and she shivered at the sight of him. He was real, and definitely not imaginary if what had happened last night was real. He pulled open his window and smacked the side of the RV, "Hey! Reese's Pieces! Yes! Thank you." He called.

The men turned all the way around and looked at each other worriedly, Clive shaking his head in disapproval. Amanda rolled her eyes, "How rude." She growled as she and Graeme broke off from Clive who was filling the RV up with gas. The sound of the window opening again caught Amanda's attention and she looked back over her shoulder to see Paul flailing out the window.

"Hey toots! C'mere!" he called. She looked around, then back at Graeme who shrugged and then rushed inside. She rolled her eyes and trudged back to the RV, tripping on a rock. She hissed and realized she wasn't wearing any shoes.

_Great_. She thought.

"Oooh what the—" she grumbled to herself. Finally, she made it to the RV when Paul reached down and handed her a $10 bill.

"There. That's for last night. Go get yourself a pair of glasses." He said nonchalantly, shutting the window again. That very second, her mouth dropped open in disgust.

The pig was _paying_ her for allowing him to "find her center" and then cheating her out of "finding her center" by practically sexually harassing her. She could sue if he wasn't an alien. She looked up at the window and screamed through her teeth, stomping her bare feet on the dirty concrete.

"You—you disgusting SWINE!" she shrieked smacking the side of the RV before rushing to the door of the store, ignoring the look she got from the cashier _and_ Clive, who saw the whole thing go down. When the door had closed, a cop car had conveniently pulled up right alongside Clive. She weaved her way around the merchandise until she found Graeme in the chip section.

Noticing immediately that he had stocked up on a shit load of little individual bags of chips, she walked past him to find a rack of glasses. She didn't even know what kind she needed, she would just try on and guess. Graeme watched her pass him and looked as though he wanted to ask where she got the $10, but thought otherwise. She wasn't going to waste the money, because she did need glasses.

"I heard there was a commotion on the road after Rachel." The cashier began to say after the bell at the door of the store rang.

"Funny, I didn't hear nothing." The trooper said, reaching for something in front of the counter. Amanda looked over her shoulder at the trooper, just as Graeme noticed him. They both just sort of awkwardly stared, dumbfounded. "Must've been the boys out at the base." He finished, setting his items on the counter.

Clive walked in through the door and went the back way around all the food until he got to Graeme, who was staring at the trooper uncomfortably, with a pile of chips in his arms.

Amanda reached down and tried on a pair of glasses as Clive got Graeme's attention and started playing with the chips. Those ones didn't work. So she tried on a couple more until she finally got a cheap looking black pair that worked better than the rest. She trudged over to Graeme, almost bumping into a rack of magazines looking at her new glasses.

Clive led the two of them around so they could walk up to the counter, the trooper instantly noticing them. He looked down at his newspaper and then back up to them, stepping back and pointing.

"You go ahead."

"Are you sure? Thank you. Thank you." Clive said, sounding like his voice was shaking.

Graeme dropped all of the chips onto the counter and Amanda set her glasses down carefully with her ten dollars. She mentioned that the glasses were separate. The trooper looked up at Clive and smirked, "That beast outside yours?" he asked.

All three of them looked up at the trooper with wide eyes, "What?" they all asked.

"Wha—what do you mean 'beast'?" Graeme stammered as the trooper turned around and pointed.

"Your RV?"

In unison, the three of them raised there brows and smiled, "Oh!"

"Oh, the…Yes. The RV is…" Graeme began, looking at Clive relieved.

"No…Yes." Clive randomly stuttered.

"The RV is definitely ours—theirs!" Amanda said, leaning on the counter, blinking furiously after she mixed up.

The trooper crossed his arms, "Where are you all from?" he asked suspiciously.

"England." Graeme began. "England." Clive said as Graeme finished answering. The trooper looked at Amanda, occasionally peering down at her shoeless feet and she awkwardly looked around, "…Wyoming." She answered truthfully.

He nodded his head in their direction, "I heard about England. No guns." He said, rather disapprovingly.

"Not many." Graeme muttered.

"No, not really." Clive stammered. "Just, you know, farmers."

"How are police supposed to shoot anybody?" the cop asked, looking at them like they were fools.

The two men looked around distractedly, "They don't." Graeme murmured.

"They try not to." Clive shrugged.

And a stare off began. The trooper looked between the two men, glaring suspiciously, all while Graeme and Clive tried not to make eye contact. Amanda stared from the trooper to her glasses, thinking maybe something on the counter was making them suspects in something. She was becoming paranoid.

The cash register rang the cashier looked at them, "That'll be $15.58. And $7.99 for you ma'am." he said.

The cashier held out his hand, containing two dollars and one cent, gesturing to Amanda. She picked up the glasses and put them on so she could grab the money, "thank you!" She was happy to see the details on Abe Lincolns face, and actually be able to read the year on the penny.

Graeme reached into his wallet and pulled out a twenty, "$20. Just keep the change, and give it to charity, or something." He said nervously, quickly handing the money to the cashier and taking the bag of goodies from his other hand.

Hurriedly, they all rushed around the trooper and scurried out to the RV. Jumping inside they immediately started the car, not giving Clive enough time to even sit down in his seat as they sped off onto the highway.

The boys explained Paul their ordeal, about how the trooper showed up out of nowhere and began asking them questions. They gave added details to the story, like him asking more suspicious questions, more glaring and more suspense in general. Paul was legitimately impressed.

"You did amazing Graeme! That cop didn't suspect a thing!" he praised, patting Graeme's shoulder.

"And, Clive, _you_ didn't pee your pants." He said, looking proudly at Clive. Amanda snorted and ignored the sideways glance Paul gave her.

"I don't mean to be a stick in the mud, but you are asking a _lot_ of us, all right? We've only just met, we don't know where we're going, or why." Clive replied, making it more dramatic then it needed to be, sounding concerned and rather irritated. "You don't think we deserve an explanation?"

"Look, the less you guys know, the better. I want you to have plausible deniability." He said, looking at all three of them genuinely, even giving Amanda a guilty look.

She furrowed her brows and squinted at him, picking at her nails all the while as Clive sighed and looked rather confused and distraught.

"Let's just say I spent a long time at that base thinking I was a guest. Turns out, I was a prisoner." He continued. Graeme and Clive both looked back at him, staring intently as he briefly explained. Amanda continued to furrow her brows, but let her eyes soften when he mentioned his prisoned state.

"But don't worry. I got it all under con—"

There was a loud bang and a bird smacked into the windshield, leaving a mound of feathers. All of them, as usual, began screaming and Graeme slammed on the brakes, pulling off onto the side of the road. Luckily, Amanda was sitting and wasn't lunged forward.

"Should we go check on it?" Graeme asked.

Without a word, Paul walked back to the door and walked outside, walking to the area where the bird was. Graeme and Clive quickly followed; Amanda made no sudden movements though. Five minutes later they were all gathering back into the RV all complaining except for Paul.

"I can't believe you did that!" Clive said, looking disgusted.

"I told you! I'm not gonna eat a dead bird!"

Amanda lifted up her hand and shook her head, "I don't even want to know, don't even continue." She complained, sitting up straight.

Paul smirked and walked over to her, "I made a bird come back to life and then I ate it." He said plainly. Amanda rolled her eyes and turned away from him, "That's great Paul, now go away." She hissed.

"Whoa, someone's a little pissy." Paul laughed. Amanda stood up and crossed her arms, directing her body towards the bedroom.

"Oh great, _please_ don't leave in a huff again." He sighed, following her as Graeme pulled the RV back onto the highway slowly, making the bumps minor. She shook her head.

"Should've thought about that when you decided to be a total fuckface and _pay_ me for what _you_ did to me last night."

He began laughing, "You gotta admit, that _was_ pretty awesome though."

Her rolled around in their sockets and she shook her head, "Not even."

"Come on, admit it! That was the greatest almost orgasm you've ever had!" he said, poking her in the arm. She smacked his finger away.

"Don't touch me! Besides, I've gotten off way better on a vibrator than last night." She hissed, trying to keep her voice low.

"What? That can't be true. You don't seem like the vibrator type."

"Jesus Christ, you are so rude and disgusting. I can't—even handle people like you." She sputtered, turning away from him, not wanting to even look in his direction.

He shrugged and smirked at her, "And yet you're still talking to me."

Pausing, she looked back at him before staring at the floor. Her eyes rose back up to his and she sighed heavily, cocking her head and playing with the hem of her shorts, "Yeah, I guess."

This time, it was his turn to sigh, "Listen. Seeing you with your glasses on made me feel bad." She furrowed her brows and stared at him oddly, thinking about how he phrased that.

"My…glasses?"

"Just shut up and listen. You seemed vulnerable, I think only kind of because of last night. I was being kind of a dick today…and last night…especially for tricking you into something as weird as that. Your center really is…right there. I just decided to have too much fun with it. I have a lot of regrets that I'm not so proud of. Having you hate me, someone I just met, someone who could be really awesome would not be a good addition. So…I'm sorry." He said.

Cautiously, she shifted on the bed and she peered at him, listening to the sincerity in his voice. He wasn't over exaggerating when he mentioned his regrets and he seemed genuinely sorry. She looked him up and down, beginning to smile.

"Thank you, Paul. I guess I'll forgive you for now." She muttered. It felt like she would take a while to forgive him, like with everyone else she's known. It takes a while for her to trust someone, let alone forgive them.

He looked up at her and smirked. Immediately though, she stood up and pointed down at him, "But I swear to God that if you do anything like that again, I will rip off your fucking space man balls and throw them out that car window. Your alien buddies will have to make a second trip back just to find your manhood." She threatened through gritted teeth. Calmly, she stormed out of the bedroom, leaving him standing there looking dumbfounded.

Paul rushed after her and stared at her watchfully as she sat down in the recliner behind Clive, looking at Paul devilishly. He smirked at her and she looked down at her nails as she crossed her legs. Tension didn't seem too high now that he had apologized. She hoped it wouldn't happen again. She positively wasn't going to let him anywhere near her center, let alone her body. Carefully he stepped between the driver and passenger and stared forward, singing to the song on the radio, when he abruptly shouted.

"Oh! No fucking way! Pull over!" he grinned. Graeme quirked a brow and pulled over slowly, just in front of a large green sign that read: _**MOUNTAIN TIME. SET YOUR WATCH AHEAD ONE HOUR.**_

He rushed around Amanda, smacking her knee to get her attention. She flinched at his touch and grimaced, glaring at him as she pushed herself out of the chair and followed him out of the RV into the middle of the road. Graeme and Clive stayed close behind.

Paul stood right before the sign, his back the road ahead. He smiled at them.

"Come on you guys! Read the sign!" he said, pointing to it.

"We can read it Paul." Amanda sighed, slumping her shoulders.

"11:00, 12:00! 11:00, 12:00!" he laughed, jumping backwards then forwards, backwards then forwards. "Come on! It's fun!" he begged them.

Graeme and Clive looked at him monotonously, while Amanda only crossed her arms.

"If you think about it, it's time travel." He urged them, gesturing to the invisible line behind him, wagging his brows.

Slowly but surely, Graeme and Clive began to grin, looking at each other in glee as they ran up next to Paul. They all looked back at Amanda who wasn't impressed.

"Amanda…please?" Paul asked, gesturing to the invisible line again. His face urged her to come forward and jump through time. And for some reason, she couldn't resist. Like the boys, she slowly tried to hold back a growing grin as she stepped forward and then sped up to a jog, jumping into the line they had all created.

Carefully, making sure not to step over the invisible line, they all balanced on one foot and then began to hop back and forth.

"11:00, 12:00!" Paul began to chant.

"Yes! Alright!" he laughed as they all began to snicker and giggle as they just kept repeatedly bouncing back and forth.

"We're going back!" Clive suddenly called.

"Back? Doc, what do you mean back?" Graeme laughed, understanding what Clive meant. Amanda caught on quickly and began laughing.

"Back—to the future—past! Future, past! Future, past!" she yelled, getting extremely excited. Their excitement had been suddenly increased by Paul's enthusiasm and reference to time travel. He bounced off to the side and watched as they all kept jumping back and forth, now all chanting, "future, past."

They were all laughing together, bonding. Clive looked up at Paul and cleared his throat, immediately stopping.

"Um…all right you guys. It's time to go. We need to keep moving." He said in a serious tone. Graeme and Amanda lunged back onto the side where the RV was, not even knowing what time zone they were in anymore. They were too discombobulated from the jumping that they didn't care anymore.

Amanda let out a wail of laughter as Graeme pulled her by the arm to the RV, "That was totally awesome." She grinned.

"I know!"

"I don't even think I've done that! Ever!" she laughed as her talking and Graeme's talking overlapped one anothers. Clive was already in the drivers seat as they all sat down. Graeme stopped and picked up a sketch pad that was lying on the floor.

"Hey, Paul, do you mind if I sketch you?" he asked unexpectedly, still sort of chuckling. Paul shrugged.

"No probs, buddy." He grinned, snatching up a random book and jumping onto the couch. Amanda grinned and walked to the passenger seat, deciding to claim it for herself, noticing Clive roll his eyes at Paul's use of the word "buddy".

She smiled and looked back at the two of them, seeing how happy Graeme looked. After what had all happened in the past twelve hours, it was hard for her to decipher her opinion about Paul. She hadn't spent very much good time with him, getting to know the positive side of him. And yet she easily gave into him, because she just couldn't hate him.

Maybe she could forgive Paul sooner than she thought.


	6. A Question, and a Dance

**Sorry for the horribly long wait!**

**No time whatsoever is the only excuse I can give.**

**Sad I know.**

**But hey, I tried to get this done and make it presentable.**

**So I hope you like it!**

**Read & _REVIEW_!**

In total silence, Graeme began to draw the alien who had gracefully laid himself across the couch. Occasionally, Amanda would turn and sneak a peek at Clives unforgiving face of disgust before looking back at Paul who looked uncomfortable in the silence, despite his lounged pose. He would catch a glimpse of her looking and just sort of smirk to himself.

They had only stopped ten minutes before at the Mountain Time sign, but in the silence it had felt like forever. All of the tension Clive was making, not purposely, made the ride unbearable for all of them. Nothing really was a big deal at the moment, so Amanda found it awkward that Clive should feel the need to make it so tense. Graeme was doing a good job at ignoring it though, his brow crinkled in absolute concentration.

Finally, tired of the silence, Amanda shifted in her seat and slung her legs over the side. With this, she was able to see the rest of the RV much better, and she could get a better view of Graeme and Paul in all of their glory. She adjusted her glasses and smiled.

"So, how is the drawing coming along?" she asked, still having to bend around to see Graeme's face more clearly.

"It's going well." He muttered after a long pause, even stopping his pencil.

Paul tried to sit up and look, muttering anxiously, "Let me see, let me see!"

"No, just sit still." Graeme advised, trying to sound polite.

So far the drawing did look well, the neck, shoulders and head done. It really captured the true, odd essence that was Paul. At least that's how she saw it. Graeme was quite the artist she had to admit that. Clive was lucky to have a friend who could pen his way onto the cover of his comic book.

"You gonna draw me like one of your French girls Jack?" Paul asked, looking at him sweetly, making a sudden kissing noise. Graeme just sort of glared and Amanda looked between the two of them like it was some awkward sitcom banter. She wanted to laugh, but she felt like she would've been the only one.

"I'm joking. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just—don't make me look fat, okay? Earth's gravity really adds ten pounds." Paul shrugged, gesturing to his rather large tummy. Amanda turned and looked ahead out at the scenery before them, the sun getting ready to set.

It was weird, hearing Paul phrase it like that. "Earth's gravity adds ten pounds," that was interesting to think about. Pondering the whole idea of gravity everyone just sort of takes it granted. At the moment, she shouldn't have been thinking about gravity, but ever since Paul showed up, she's been thinking more clearly and thoughtfully about scientific achievements of man or just scientific facts in general. So much to learn from one specimen.

"Paul, could I ask you a question?" Graeme asked, reaching up to scratch his chin. Amanda turned back, leaning on her knees. Paul nodded, "Shoot!"

"Um…have you ever done that to a person?" he asked, continuing to draw a few more lines. Quirking a brow, she looked between them again, wondering if they were talking about that bird. That was just horrifying to think about. Bringing something to life only to eat it.

"Yes. I've eaten many people." Paul replied, sounding a bit downtrodden. Clive slowly looked over his shoulder, rather frightened. Amanda just shook her head, reaching up to rub her forehead. That was worse than eating a live bird.

Paul rolled his eyes, "I'm joking you guys, relax."

Graeme shook his head, gesturing to his chest, "No, I mean fix them."

"Oh!" Paul exclaimed dropping his paper and sitting up a little bit, "No! Not a dead person. Recently dead bird? That's one thing. Dead person? Whole other ball game." He continued, leaning on his elbow to get close to Graeme, like he was some fascinated professor speaking to a faithful student.

Amanda, unconsciously, moved in as well, expecting him to whisper as he said, "It's actually really dangerous for me. The damage can actually bounce back onto me—"

From in front of her, Clive dramatically let out a long yawn. She turned to him rather confused, finding it kind of rude of him even though he inspired her to yawn as well. She threatened to kick his chair, but felt she didn't need to when Graeme stood up and approached them. Gesturing to her, she followed a silent order to stand up and move into the back while Graeme went up to talk to him.

"Oh, sorry, am I boring you? Have you heard this one before?" Paul said, leaning back in his seat. Amanda saw Clive hold his eyes closed and blink rapidly, like he was trying to stay awake.

"You tired sausage?" Graeme asked kindly, settling into the seat. Clive sent him a glance and shook his head, "Don't call me that in front of them."

"Are you tired, though?" Graeme replied, sounding sincere. Amanda sat in Graeme's warm seat and smiled at Paul who just sort of read a paper he had found. She crossed her legs and rubbed her knees.

Suddenly, she yawned again. Now she was becoming tired. Just by getting up and walking back to another seat, she was tired. Paul eyed her as she yawned and put down his paper for a second, as if to say something. When he didn't, she tried not to stare at him.

"Eggy I'm—bushed!" Clive admitted, shutting his eyes tight again. Amanda rubbed her face and looked at Paul who was beginning to shift more on the couch.

"You know what? We're all tired!" he said, throwing the pad of paper down onto the floor and arching his back to crack it. The sound made Amanda twitch, but soon she relaxed knowing he was right. "Let's just pull over and stop for the night, huh?"

He stood up off the couch and walked right past Amanda, brushing her knee with his fingers. The sensation made her rip her knees away, not wanting him to touch her. Luckily he hadn't noticed. The two gentlemen up front turned around and looked at him, Clive narrowing his eyes as he said, "We are fugitives Paul, all right? I refuse to just sit around and wait to get fingered by the men in black."

Amanda shivered, not enjoying his choice of words.

"Look, we just gotta find somewhere quiet, and not draw attention to ourselves." Paul sighed. Graeme looked back at them.

"But where are we going Paul?" Clive practically whined.

He smirked, "Oh, you'll know it when you see it."

Amanda stood up and reached her arms up to the sky, her back making one big popping sound, "The question I'm gonna ask is, where are we going to find an RV park anywhere around here? I don't even know where we are."

Graeme and Paul turned around to look at her and Paul shrugged, "We'll just have to drive till we find the perfect spot."

Pulling out the map, Graeme took a minute to examine it, "I can't really…distinguish anything…but there's got to be something in this place that could give us a bunch of RV park names. It would be undoubtedly helpful."

Hesitantly, Clive pointed at the glove box, trying to look over at it, "I thought I saw a pamphlet in there."

"What state are we in though, Utah?" she asked, walking up next to Paul and grabbing the back of Graemes seat to lean on, setting her other hand on her hip. The sun was beginning to dip lower now, into the mountains, making it hard to see. Graeme had to pull the pamphlet up to his nose and read.

"We should be there, yeah. Maybe. I don't know."

"Make up your mind." Paul sighed. Looking taken aback, Graeme tried not to glance back at him. Amanda pressed her lips together and stared out at the road.

In all of her travels, she hadn't really found a lot of RV parks in the middle of nowhere. They hadn't come across a town either, so the idea of an RV park being anywhere close by was kind of a lost cause. But, with a pamphlet, maybe she doubted them more than she needed to. Graeme raised a hand into the air, smiling.

"The closest one, I think, if we're on the right road, is the Pearly Gates RV park." He

shouted and Amanda slapped her hands together.

"Thank ya Jesus!" she shouted to the roof of the RV.

To that, Paul just rolled his eyes and walked back to the couch. "Sounds good!" he called, jumping onto it and picking up the paper he was reading before. Amanda didn't give him a weird look like she would've, but on the inside her stomach was churning.

"When should that be coming up?"

"Well, it's right there!" Clive sighed in relief. "Here we are! This is the place!" he smiled turning into the entrance.

"Oh yeah, this looks good," Paul said, getting up from the couch again to look through the windows at the arched sign. Crosses adorned the sign here and there; some were staked into the ground around it. It was gated, so Clive came to a stop, "Doesn't look like anyone's been murdered here." Paul muttered sarcastically. Amanda shifted her weight, ignoring his comments.

Clive put the RV in park and they all just sort of stared out the window, up at the sign and out into the landscape. Paul looked between the three humans, like he was waiting for them to do something.

"It's awfully quiet." Graeme shrugged, looking at Clive. He looked back at his friend and nodded, "Quiet's good Graeme. Quiet's our friend."

Letting out a sigh, Paul rolled his eyes. Amanda looked out at the gate and shrugged, pointing to it, "So who wants to go out and open it?" Clive stared at her like she was mad. Giving him the same look she shrugged again, this time more animatedly, "Well someone has to!"

Graeme sighed and stood up, walking between Paul and Amanda towards the door.

"Thank you, Graeme." Amanda called. Graeme trudged to the door and pulled it open.

"Hi there!" a sweet voice said and Graeme's immediate reply was a scream and a slam of the door. The sudden reaction made everyone jump, especially Amanda. She turned and glared at him like he could've given her a heart attack.

"There's a girl outside!" he whispered maniacally. Clive shifted in his seat and Paul's response was to suck in a big breath and melt into the background. Amanda rolled her eyes.

"A girl? Really? Graeme, honestly, I'm a girl." She said, pointing to herself. Graeme looked her up and down, "Don't remind me." He whispered even quieter, sounding more frantic.

Her mouth dropped open and she shook her head, not understanding what that meant. He was totally comfortable with her, despite barely knowing her. Never had he acted like this around her, except maybe at the beginning when he wouldn't talk to her as relaxed as he does now. For someone that was gay though, or who she thought was gay, he was acting very peculiar about the girl. How he acted around her made him seem comfortable with women in general. Or maybe he just wasn't attracted to her. What if he saw her as one of the boys? Not like she would take it to offense if he saw her as one of the boys, but she would rather _not_ be seen as one of the boys. At least a sister. That would be a nice gesture.

Clive jumped out of his seat and rushed back to Graeme, shortly followed by Amanda, "Okay, um, all right. We're just a couple of regular guys, with—" he glimpsed back at Amanda, wanting to say a hitchhiker, but thought better of it, "my cousin, going on a tour of the less touristy side of the American Midwest."

The way he was speaking to Graeme, it was like he was instructing him. As if Graeme had never spoken to girls before and Clive was giving him a lesson on how to give a girl an excuse. Even though it wasn't an excuse, it sort of was the truth, until Paul came along. Nevertheless, Amanda didn't say anything about his explanation.

"I don't think she heard you." Graeme said staring at him obliviously.

Clive shut his eyes, "I'm—I'm talking to you." He stammered.

"Oh, sorry." He said, before turning around to push the door open.

There before them, or from what Amanda could see over Clives shoulder was a young woman, probably just older than her. She had long honey colored hair, pulled back into a ponytail that cascaded over the rest of her hair. A black lens in her glasses covered one of her sea blue eyes, like she had gotten one half of her sunglasses punched out. Her attire was influenced by all of the crosses surrounding the entrance. A button up shirt tucked into a knee length skirt and ked like slip ons.

"Hi." She said, looking nervous herself, her hands folded in front of her. Trying to formally wave, she continued, "I'm Ruth Buggs."

Amanda pursed her lips and nodded, thinking it was a pretty name. The poor thing looked worse off than Graeme, only not worrying about her nervousness as much, appearing coolly working through this nonexistent conversation. Graeme, on the other hand was entranced by her, not saying a word. His face said enough, with his mouth hanging open. Clive just nodded, "Good evening Ruth."

Standing on her tip toes, pushing her head between Graeme's and the door frame, "Hi." She said with a smile. Ruth nervously smiled and nodded to her, surprised by her appearance.

"I am the writer, Clive Gollings. And this is my friend and cohort Mr. Graeme Willy. And that is my …cousin. Amanda—"

"Nelson. Amanda Nelson." She finished, trying to put on a slight English accent, so as to appear convincing. Neither of them gave her any looks, so she felt she did all right. Innocently, Graeme lifted his hand up, wiggling his fingers.

He whispered a pitiful, "Hi", and Ruth giggled breathily. She awkwardly pushed hair from her face, looking away from Graeme, as if she had suddenly disappeared into a closet and was now primping herself to see him again.

Clive pointed towards the gate, "Have you got room?" he asked before letting out a chuckle.

"Uh, sure! Park in Bay 9, it's twenty-five dollars a night, including hook-ups and I'll need an I.D. to hold onto." She said with ease, staring mainly at Clive before looking at Graeme and Amanda.

"Okay." Clive nodded. Amanda saw him look between Ruth and the transfixed Graeme a few times before walking back towards the front of the RV. Graeme half smiled as he stared at Ruth lovingly. He received a cute chuckle from Ruth as he looked out into the desert, trying to appear mysterious. Amanda stepped into Clive's old spot, right in the doorway next to Graeme.

"We're just a couple of regular guys, and a cousin, on a tour of the less touristy side of the American Midwest." He repeated, constantly shifting his weight. Amanda tried not to stare at him in utter humiliation as he tried to play it off all cool and dashing. The only thing she did was nod, pushing her glasses up her nose again.

"How exciting!" Ruth nodded, making the best of it. Graeme mumbled something to himself, most likely an "I know", from what Amanda could make out. He looked absolutely thrilled that she had replied.

Clive hurried back to them and reached his arm between their heads, "Here you go. That's my, uh, passport."

She took it from him, looking at it intrigued. When she opened it, her mouth dropped and she looked up at them in glee before looking back down again, like she was double checking something.

"The U.K." she said dreamily. "I love the U.K."

"Have you been?" Amanda asked with a smirk, enjoying her sudden interest.

"No." she said, sounding saddened to say so, but said it like it wasn't that big of a deal. Graeme shrugged and smiled at her, "You should go."

Her face seemed to fall and she nodded, looking down at the ground miserably. She began to walk away and they all furrowed their brows, Graeme struggling to say something else. Amanda stood up from her leant post on the doorframe, sticking her head out the door.

"No, no, he meant that you should go to London!" she piped up, elbowing Graeme. Ruth stepped back in front of them and smiled, staring down at the passport, "There are a lot of places I want to go."

Graeme smiled at her just as a loud, booming voice called from inside the park. "RUTH! RUTH GET IN HERE!" They all sort of looked towards the voice, kind of frightened by the force of it. The boys crinkled their brows and Graeme's mouth just sort of hung open stupidly, Amanda almost pulling the same sort of face.

"Um, I'll be by in the morning to get your money. So…" Ruth chimed in, waving at them and beginning to walk towards the gate. "Have a pleasant evening now, won't you?" she asked rhetorically. Graeme stuttered a thank you and wished the same for.

Feeling rushed, Amanda reached out and pushed them all back into the RV arm before reaching out to the door and slamming it closed. "Get in your seats, and let's go!" she said hastily, jumping past Graeme and getting into the reclining seat.

Clive followed orders and jogged to the driver's seat, Graeme following like a mind controlled puppy dog. Pictures of Ruth were still probably dancing in his head, like little sugarplums. Amanda smirked and rubbed her temple wondering how much longer and awkward that could've gotten. They didn't seem to mind that she wanted it over with. In her mind, the reason was to just get inside so she could sleep, and maybe get some food.

Ruth had opened the gate and Clive slowly inched his way in, giving Ruth a nice little wave.

"She was lovely!" Graeme finally burst out, seeming to come to life, bobbing up and down in his seat. From what Amanda could see, Clive just sort of stared at him like he was a traitor, or a totally different person than what he was used to. She had to admit that she thought it was adorable, especially because Graeme is officially straight.

"Why don't you just marry her then?" Clive asked sarcastically. Amanda rolled her eyes and crossed her legs, hoping no one would answer him.

Speaking of answering him, where was Paul?

"BOO!" Paul laughed, popping out of nowhere between the front seats. Graeme, as per usual, jumped right out of his seat, Amanda let out a yelp, but only because Clive had slammed on the brakes. Amanda stood up and smacked the back of Pauls head, "God damn it Paul!" she growled quietly as he laughed at all of them.

He rubbed the back of his head and glanced back at her, "Good job you guys. Nice work getting us in here."

Reaching forward, he patted Clive's arm, "Calling Amanda your cousin? Nice." He did the same to Graeme, "Acting like a love sick pile of shit? Perfect." Then he turned to Amanda, "Using the worst English accent I have ever heard? Priceless."

Immaturely, she stuck out her tongue and sat down on the couch. Clive had stared to driving again. In silence, they pulled into Bay 9, set up an awning outside the door, and grabbed some food from the fridge. Clive had started a fire in a little grill that was already set up outside, even turning on a stereo to do it with a soundtrack. All the lights inside the RV were turned on, and Graeme was pulling out blankets and beers, offering one to Paul as he jumped down the stairs. He didn't take it.

"Are you sure it's okay to do this?" she asked, following him, not taking a beer from Graeme. Paul spun around, holding out his arms to gesture to the outside.

"When you look around, you'll notice there's barely a soul out here! Besides, if any one sees me it's because they're brown nosing." He shrugged.

He pushed the door open and they both hopped out, Clive giving them a half-hearted hello, four dogs already on the barbeque. Amanda sucked in a breath and smiled, enjoying the smell of real food for the first time since the bus station way back when. Neither of them closed the door, so Amanda just sat down on the stairs. Paul pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.

"You want a cigarette?" he offered Clive.

"No thanks, I don't smoke." He said monotonously. Paul turned to offer it to Amanda, but she shook her head. Clive had given her a jacket just as they had stopped, so she pulled the large jacket wings around her tiny body, letting the long arms fall over her hands and cover them up. She felt like she was wrapping up in a big blanket.

Paul lit the cigarette with his zippo and then stuffed it into his pocket, sucking in some smoke before looking at Clive cautiously. He looked around, "Can I ask you something?"

Clive shrugged, flipping the dogs, "Yeah, sure."

"You and Graeme," Paul began, "are you guys uh…"

"What?" Clive asked as he hesitated.

"You know." Was all he said before slightly shrugging and giving him a nod, clicking his tongue like he was suggesting something. Amanda pressed her lips together, trying not to smile, knowing what he was asking.

She had thought the same thing the entire trip until Graeme went googily eyed for Ruth. That Clive and Graeme were secretly together, that they liked each other, that they were in a relationship. That they were gay! When she met them, and from what the rednecks had suggested at the Little Ale'Inn, she just assumed they were. Obviously, Ruth proved that Graeme was most certainly straight. Clive on the other hand, was not helping his case if he wasn't, especially with his jealousy.

Clive shifted to look straight at Paul, his face reading utter confusion. Paul shrugged more animatedly, "You know! You guys…two guys," he said, doing a little dance. Clive shifted again, still confused. Paul lifted his cigarette up to his mouth, and by the sound he made Amanda guessed he was making a suggestive gesture.

Still, Clive shook his head, not getting it at all. "Are you getting me?" Paul asked. Clive shook his head and turned the dogs again. With a slump of his shoulders, Paul began moving around making obscene gestures right before their eyes. For most of them, if not all, Clive looked confused and deeply disturbed. Gasping, Amanda covered her eyes with her jacket sleeves, not daring to peek. It was embarrassing just watching him. Clive shrugged and shook his head again.

"I don't—I don't—"

"Gay!" Paul finally said.

Amanda pulled the sleeves from her eyes to watch Clive's reaction, smiling as his face turned to pure realization. He was also just as embarrassed as Amanda. She cupped her face in her hands and smiled; now holding back giggles as Clive tried to answer without stuttering.

"No! What? Why do people keep saying that?"

"No! I was just wondering!" Paul shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. He turned on his heels, sucking in more smoke. He approached Amanda, looking like he was going to attempt to sit next to her, leaving Clive to turn the dogs in shame. She finally let out a giggle and wrapped her arms around her knees.

"I cannot believe you did that." She whispered, grinning at him like an excited little school girl. He stepped closer to hear her better. "I cannot believe you did that!" she repeated.

He smirked and blew out the smoke, "I was curious. It's been on both of our minds." He pointed out. She giggled again, gently stamping her feet on the stairs out of pure joy. Paul turned around to walk back towards Clive.

"It's totally cool if you are! Everyone's bi on my planet. It's all about the pleasurin' thang. You know what I'm saying?" he said, moving his shoulders like he was supposed to look sexy. Amanda just rolled her eyes, biting her lip still giggling about what had just gone down. For a second, he actually looked back to wink at her. She pretended she didn't see it out of the corner of her eye.

Clive shook his head, "Why are you here, Paul?"

"Oh, uh, I was here on a science mission actually. And then I… had some spaceship related problems and I kind of…crashed." He said, pacing and rubbing his forehead, like he was trying to remember.

Just as he began again, Graeme came down the stairs. Amanda looked up and smiled, getting out of his way. He smiled down at her, stopping right next to her. She stood up and crossed her arms, "Hey!"

"Hi!" he muttered.

"So you excited to see Ruth tomorrow?" she asked, following him towards the barbeque, disregarding Paul and Clive's conversation.

"What?" he said suddenly, nervous. She quirked a brow, smirking, "Tomorrow when she gets the money…are you excited to see her again?"

"Why would I be?"

"Don't play dumb with me," she began, walking over to a picnic table right behind Clive. "This entire time I thought you were gay and you successfully proved me wrong by drooling over Miss Ruth Buggs of the Pearly Gates." She said, teasing him. He turned a bit pink in the firelight and rubbed his arm. His reaction made her grin.

Paul pointed to Graeme, "I've been advising the government."

Graeme raised his brow, tuning into their conversation, "Not just the government. He's advised Steven Spielberg too!"

Both Clive and Amanda's mouths dropped open all attention on Paul. Paul had spoken to Steven Spielberg? Advised him no less? What ideas could he have given him? E.T., Close Encounters? Amanda leaned on the picnic table, now realizing how his alien movies were so good.

"You'd be surprised how much he's influenced popular culture over the last sixty years." Graeme nodded. Amanda stood up and walked up next to Clive. Impressed, Clive nodded and turned to her.

"Agent Mulder was right!"

"Agent Mulder was my idea!" Paul butted in, looking angry that he wasn't credited for anything. Graeme excitedly questioned him and Clive let out a slightly unimpressed wow. Amanda just smiled, pretending she knew who the hell Agent Mulder was.

"That's cool." Graeme smiled walking over to the picnic table again to set down whatever was in his hands. Paul began to dance to the music, clapping and whistling.

"Pump that shit, earth man! I like this song. Mmm. Marvin's my boy." He mumbled to himself, dancing around a bit as Graeme turned up the radio.

Amanda smiled at Paul's horrible dancing, "Come on! Break it down a bit you guys!"

He danced towards them, gesturing for them to go and dance with him. With a smile, Graeme and Clive watched as he did random moves to try and influence them to dance. He started bobbing his head around, "look at me, I'm breaking it down!"

Graeme started bobbing his head while Clive clamped the tongs against the grill. Amanda crossed her arms and started tapping her foot in the dirt, shaking her hips side to side every once in a while.

"Use them tongs! Dance with them tongs!" Paul laughed, causing Graeme and Clive to dance a little more enthusiastically. "Stoke the fire!" he said, reaching out his hand to Amanda.

Throwing her head back at all of their dancing, she laughed in delight. Paul moved closer, reaching for her hand, "You can dance a little better than that!" he mocked. She smiled and shook her head; waving her hand at him, "Don't even!"

"Oh come on." Paul begged, stepping closer. She threw her head back again, still grinning and giggling as Paul just grasped her hand gently not wanting to surprise her, tugging her out from behind the barbeque, past Graeme and away from Clive.

He grabbed her other hand and started to sway her arms back and forth with the beat not noticing how she didn't even flinch at his touch. She laughed again as he started making odd sounds, like he was enjoying the music. Letting go of her hands, he let her dance at her own free will, shaking her hips and wiggling her shoulders. He stepped back and watched her grove around and jump around with Graeme, kicking and shimmying.

None of them even laughed anymore because they were dancing, leaving Paul to shout out more encouraging words of dancing and merriment. Out of nowhere, Amanda even reached out and took his hand, dancing with him again, pulling him around this time. She didn't even flinch at his touch again, which Paul finally noticed, surprising him. He just stared at her with this smile of awareness that she was probably getting used to him, or that she had forgiven him for what he had done earlier. At the moment she didn't even look like she cared about the world. She seemed to be looking like that a lot since he had met her. He didn't even know if it was a reoccurring thing. Either way he danced with her as much as he could, feeling his stomach churn in a good way when she stepped too close. She pulled him along, trying to do spins with him, but failing miserably.

"I don't know the words to this song!" Paul exclaimed after trying to sing with it, dancing a little more with her. "No one does!" he laughed again.

All of them, including Clive, let out snickers and a few belly laughs.

"Hey guys, let's get fucked up!" Paul shouted.

The next hour and a half was blur to Amanda, not because she drank anything, but because everything went by so slowly it was like it had never happened. She couldn't remember anything because she was so bored just watching them drink and make fools of themselves. She laughed a few times when they said something idiotic, but otherwise it was pretty forgettable to her and probably the rest of them seeing as how they all got "fucked up". She even attempted at making herself another hot dog.

Immediately, Graeme and Clive had all passed out in their beds, leaving Paul on the floor in the middle. Amanda tip toed to the back and stood over Paul, peeking down at him, "Paul, are you sure you don't want the couch?" she whispered.

He grunted in his sleep and shook his head, "No thanks doll face."

Nodding, she turned around and began tiptoeing back to the couch. She picked the glasses off of her face and stuck them onto the window sill above the couch. The couch felt as fluffy as a cloud when she sat on it, preparing to slip in under the blankets.

"I'm sorry." She heard him whisper. She stopped and turned her head to look back at the dark room.

"What?" she whispered.

"I'm sorry. For…everything. For…promising to come back and just…not. For leaving. I owe you for a lot and…I'm sorry." He whispered, somewhat incoherently. This left her bewildered. He couldn't have been meaning to talk to her. It sounded like his casual apology to her from earlier. He doesn't owe her anything and the same for her.

Tiptoeing her way back to him, she looked down again and saw his eyes closed, "Paul?" she whispered.

"I'm sorry…." He mumbled.

"Paul!" she hissed, poking his foot with her own. He shifted.

"Sorry." He sniffed again, letting out a long sigh.

"What are you sorry for? Don't be sorry." She said, looking at him worried, bending over him. He shifted again and coughed. A thought crossed her mind and she rolled her eyes: he was drunk. Even in his sleep he was "fucked up".

"I'm sorry anyways…." He mumbled, burping a little bit. Amanda stood up straight and covered her nose, trying not to let out a gag of repulsion. She stepped back from him and just nodded.

"Whatever you say, ass. You're not forgiven." She said out of spite, especially after that burp. Now her tiptoeing back to the couch commenced, despite Paul's sudden whine.

"Please."

The sound in his voice made her freeze in her tracks again. The sound of regret, the sound of remorse. He was suddenly begging her and she didn't know why. Maybe he was talking to someone back on his planet, and that was only a guess. She tiptoed back to him, trying to move quickly. Gently, she kneeled beside him, pushing hair behind her ear.

"Paul, why are you apologizing?" she hissed.

"I left…I was taken and I'm sorry. I was so fucking stupid to make you think I'd come back…to come back and see you." He whispered, twitching in his sleep. It was like he was auditioning for some romance film. Nonetheless, it was worrying her. Amanda pressed her lips together and looked between Clive and Graeme's beds. There was enough room for two.

Going as slow as a turtle, she pushed Clive's shoes and Paul's bag out of the way so she could lay down on her stomach next to Paul. Just by how he was acting, even if it was a dream, he was taking it so seriously.

"I'm trying to get there…now…I'm trying. I'll be there. I'm sorry." He muttered just after she lay down. Desperately, as Amanda tried to sleep he would repeat every other hour, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Every time she would wake up and groggily say, "For what?" But he would never answer.

Now she wanted to know more about him. What was he running from? What or who was he running to?

Finally, after hours of torture, when the sun started to peek through the shades, Paul said one last time, "I'm sorry."

All she did, was wake up, look at his fuzzy figure, take his hand and say.

"I forgive you."


	7. Another Person, Another Disagreement

**Hey everyone!**

**It was nice getting so many lovely reviews.**

**But, a minority of them just said "Update Plz" and I would really appreciate it if more people decided to say more than that?**

**I'm not really getting much feedback if some of you are just asking for more.**

**How much more do you want?  
>I wouldn't know.<strong>

**You just say, "Update".**

**But here's another chapter, just because I had time.**

**Read & _REVIEW_**

Every time she woke up in that RV, it was never in a very proper fashion. In her comfy bed back at home, she would wake up to her body clock; naturally waking up every morning to prepare for the day. So far, in the crummy living wagon traveling cross-country, she's awoken to a bumpy road jolting her awake. Now she's been awaken by snoring coming from beside her and the heat of a scorching morning.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut even tighter, rubbing her sweaty face with a hot hand. Sitting up, she squinting around at the sides of the beds on either side of her. Two men slept soundly in both of them. Luckily she remembered who they were and didn't worry.

While she stretched, she recalled Paul talking in his sleep the night before and that's why she hadn't been sleeping on the couch. She had even dreamt about him being fully awake, apologizing to her. And only to her. Even though she didn't even know whom he was apologizing to when he was talking in his sleep. And, at the moment, she was starting to think he was fully awake when he was talking. No one could've gotten that drunk and said that much in their sleep.

Looking down at herself, she pulled at her shirt and shorts, both completely covered in dust and dirt. Her shirt even had a few tares. She sighed and scratched her leg, peering down at Paul who snored yet again. She was going to have to talk to him about last night. But not now, not when he looked so peaceful. Despite the snoring.

He looked so relaxed when he was asleep. Like he wasn't an alien from another world. Just some normal thing on this normal planet, having a normal sleep. She wouldn't want to disturb that just yet.

But something ended up disturbing it. A knock on the thin, plastic RV door made her head spin and made Graeme practically have a stroke. He kicked his legs into the air and stared around in utter dismay at what was going on around him. Clive shifted a bit in his sleep and opened his eyes, while Paul loudly moaned, "Ugh, who's knocking? Stop it."

Graeme sat up and glanced at the door when someone knocked again, and Clive began to lift his head from his pillow. Amanda pressed her lips together and began to stand up, grabbing at things to lead her to her glasses by the couch. The RV shook as she stumbled over to where she sat them down the night before, and pushed them onto her face, resting on the comfy, made up bed she was supposed to sleep on.

"What are you doin?" Clive muffled.

"Oh, shut up." Paul mumbled back. All three of them sat up and looked around. Paul was the first of them to actually get up and he immediately went into the bathroom, telling them he'd hide in there. Amanda shifted around until she was sitting on her leg and she pointed at the door, trying to get them hurry.

"Hurry up!" she hissed.

"Why don't you get it!" Clive answered, planting his feet on the floor.

"This isn't my RV, YOU get it!"

"Well it isn't exactly ours now, either!" Graeme moaned, rubbing his head and Clive jumped up and ran out to the door.

"Don't come out." He muttered to the bathroom door. Paul sighed, "Why would I come out?"

"Who is it?" Clive asked, pressing his ear to the door, gazing over at Amanda for a moment. She stared at the door in anticipation.

"It's Ruth." A lovely voice called, just as Graeme arrived. He gasped and began to fix his hair, looking giddy to see her again. For a second, she tried not to smile at his reaction, deciding to fix her own hair as she got up to follow them.

Clive pointed at Graeme, "Don't you dare!" he demanded. But Graeme had already opened the door, revealing a primped Ruth. She had prepared herself to look fresh and clean for them. Amanda stood on her tiptoes and stared over their shoulders again.

"Don't—Oh hello!" Clive and Graeme said in unison. Amanda just tried to wave.

"Good Morning!" Ruth smiled, swaying back and forth. She gestured to the door, "Um, may I come in?"

"Yeah—"

"—No—"

"Sure—"

"No—I don't think you should—come in—"

"Welcome!"

"We're not properly—dressed." The two men stuttered, one after the other, both disagreeing and contradicting one another as Graeme moved out of the way and Ruth stepped inside. Amanda pushed herself back towards the couch and smiled again at her.

"Oh, was everything okay?" she asked.

Amanda looked at them, hoping they'd answer normally. "Yes, yes it was. It was very nice."

"Yes, thank you." They answered. Amanda smiled and nodded, "We really enjoyed it, thanks."

"It was the best."

"Adequate." They both finished. Amanda sighed and did her best to smile pleasantly.

Ruth nodded and looked around, "Uh—so where's the other one?"

"The other one." Clive said, looking nervous all of a sudden. Amanda's eyes widened and Graeme seemed to lose all emotion. "It's just—" Clive began again, pointing at the three of them.

"It's okay, we don't charge by the person." Ruth said reassuringly. "There were _four_ shadows I saw dancing around the RV last night, right?" she asked, looking to Amanda at first for confirmation. Her eyes shot to Graeme and Clive for help, wondering what she was supposed to say.

"Oh…" Graeme muttered.

"The other one, that other one. He uh…"

"I'm in the can!" Paul called from the bathroom. Ruth turned around to look at the bathroom door, and the other three stared astonished at it. Clive looked around nervously, tugging at his shorts, while Graeme and Amanda tried to keep their mouths from falling open.

Paul continued, "I ate a closed pistachio." A farting noise erupted from the bathroom, "I'm paying for it."

Ruth turned around slowly to look at them, chuckling all the while. Graeme chuckled as well, Clive just pressing his lips together like it was the worst excuse he'd heard. Amanda played it off with Graeme, giggling along with them. Graeme pointed to Ruth's t-shirt.

"That's a nice t-shirt." Amanda glanced at him and widened her smile, nodding.

"Oh thanks! I got it at my church." She grinned, pulling her hair apart to show them a nicely drawn picture on a deep blue shirt. Amanda leaned forward to squint at it. "It's Jesus shooting Charles Darwin."

It most certainly was, as far as Amanda could tell. EVOLVE THIS lined the bottom of it, just under the graphic natured drawing of blood exploding from the back of Charles Darwins head as a bullet pierced through, coming straight from a gun held by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Pressing her lips together, Amanda looked over at the two science, Darwinist geeks. At least she thought they were Darwinists. Clive looked a bit uncomfortable and Graeme just chuckled again.

"Why would Jesus want to shoot Charles Darwin?"

"Because of his blasphemous theories." She said monotonously, like it was some sort of mind control. Amanda folded her hands in front of her and smiled, looking around awkwardly. "Are you all men and women of God?" Ruth asked, glancing at every one of them.

Amanda's mouth opened just a bit. It was actually quite a tough question. She didn't go to church, did that mean she didn't believe in God? "I…not regularly…" she muttered, thinking more about going to church than worshipping God.

Clive looked down after Amanda's answer and Graeme desperately looked at Clive for an reply, "We're…men of science, you know, we believe in the establishment of a biological order through the maelstrom of physical and chemical chaos." Clive answered for them. It was a well put answer, very much like them.

Ruth could only giggle and shift her weight, "God created the earth in six days, and on the seventh day he rested."

"REALLY?" Paul questioned from the bathroom. Amanda shut her eyes and slapped her forehead, "oh no." she moaned.

Paul made a long fart noise and Ruth's smile disappeared. Amanda stepped forward, between Graeme and Clive, "Or it could be God! You don't know, do ya?" she shrugged, laughing it all off.

"The world is 4,000 years old and can only be the product of intelligent design." Ruth said, also playing it off. She sounded very positive that she was right, and now Amanda was even starting to doubt it all.

"That's horse shit!" Paul growled from the bathroom. Ruth let out an insulted gasp, and pushed her hair out of her face, turning back to look at the bathroom door. Clive just sort of nodded and Graeme looked quite surprised. Amanda didn't even want to blink at that moment, not wanting to miss what was going to go down.

"Um, alright then. Please explain how something as complex as the human eye simply just comes into being!" she laughed, shrugging and glimpsing back at the three other humans.

"Oh don't give me that old irreducible complex crap! THANK YOU."

"Something as intricate as that does not just occur without the intervention of a guiding hand!" she argued, crossing her arms.

"It didn't just OCCUR—it is the culmination of billions of years of development across countless—fucking species!" Paul shouted, sounding like he was trying to hold himself back. Ruth gasped and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"What are you talking about?"

"EVOLUTION, baby!" he said, his tone full of pride. Amanda held back a grin as Ruth punched the door, screaming out, "BLASPHEMY!"

Clive and Graeme jumped, trying not to look away. Graeme even covered his mouth with both of his hands, looking as though he was about to cry. Amanda just crossed her arms and rubbed her elbows.

"Aw, yeah, well—" Paul began to mumble in the bathroom as Ruth started to state her rebuttal, "Nothing you can say or do will shake my belief or faith, in the sure and certain knowledge that God made heaven and earth and created us all in his own image!"

"Oh, his OWN image!"

"Yeah!" Ruth said, her voice quiet and breathy, her face full of determination as she crossed her arms.

"Well, I gotta question!" Paul's voice grew louder as the door opened. Ruth backed out of it's way, and simultaneously, Clive, Graeme and Amanda's face morphed into pure horror as Paul walked out and slammed the door shut.

"HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN ME?" he yelled.

From behind Ruth, they could hear her slowly gasp, and saw her body start to fall towards them. Paul relaxed, "She's goin', she's fallin', catch her—"

Graeme grabbed Amanda's shoulder and pulled her back as they all jumped away from Ruth's unconscious body. They all just sort of stared at her looking revolted, like she was now some dead corpse lying in the middle of the floor.

"And that's jenga." Paul smiled, nodding his head in satisfaction.

Clive jumped towards the front door, having noticed it was still open, bumping into Amanda, and shut it. She just sort of stared down at Ruth as Graeme whined in a high voice, "Why did you do that?"

"I didn't do shit—she fainted! We've gone through this!" he retorted, gesturing down to her limp body. "Yeah but we'll have to take her with us now!" Graeme said in desperation as Clive was jumping around the RV trying to get things ready to leave immediately.

"NO." Amanda and Clive said at the same time. "NO." Clive said again, wagging his finger at Graeme like he was a dog.

"This is America," Paul said in all seriousness, "kidnapping a Christian? That's worse than harboring a fugitive." Amanda just began nodding in agreement.

"Yeah but she's seen you! If we let her go, she's gonna call the police!" Graeme whined.

Amanda threw her hands up into the air and turned back to look at Graeme, trying to step back from him without stepping on Ruth, "Oh Graeme forget that shit!"

"Yeah, no one's going to believe this God bothering Cyclops! Let's just—dump her on the road! Let's just roll her up in the rug!" Paul suggested, beginning to bend down to prepare the body.

Immediately Amanda pointed a finger at him, "NO. Don't even think about it! We're just gonna leave her here, not in some dump on the side of the road, you got that?" she growled. Paul stepped away from Ruth's body, holding his hands up where she could see them.

"We can't even risk that!" Graeme started, "If we take her with us then maybe we could get her on our side!"

Clive rolled his eyes, "Yeah you'd love to get her on her side, wouldn't you?"

Graeme and Amanda looked back at him and Paul slumped his shoulder, shrugging, "that doesn't even make sense."

"Look, she'll be fine. We're quite nice!" Graeme tried again after glaring at Clive.

"Oh, oh, all right. Well what about my passport?" Clive growled, directing his finger towards the head trailer in the park. They all looked out the window in complete silence, not knowing how to answer that.

Paul reached up and rubbed his head, "Oh God…you guys."

Without a second to lose, Paul made his way around Ruth's body, squeezing between Amanda and the counter, walked down the steps and pushed the door open.

"Paul, wait!" Amanda gasped.

"Don't worry toots I got this." He assured her, smiling over his shoulder devilishly at her. She sighed and looked at Graeme who was now kneeling beside Ruth. "Get the RV ready Clive." Paul said just before he pulled off his short, sucked in a breath and disappeared.

The door slammed shut and Amanda set her hands on her hips, trying not to peer down at Paul's shorts. She heard shuffling behind her and a hand touched her shoulder.

"Amanda, could you get Ruth up onto the couch? We need to change." Graeme asked, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. Amanda glanced at her and twisted her mouth. "I don't think—"

"Thank you!" Graeme said, rushing into the back of the RV, followed by Clive who muttered, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

With a shrug, Amanda stared at Ruth, her arms and legs sprawled across the dirty 1970's carpet. She sighed and tried to maneuver around her so she could pick her up. When she was unsuccessful at doing so, she would go to another side and try to get her up then.

"She's _your_—fucking girlfriend—thing—why don't—you do it." She groaned, her voice straining as she used her muscle-less arms to try and pull Ruth up by the underarms. One body part at a time onto the couch, that was her plan. She would do her top half, and then pull her legs on. And eventually it worked.

Ruth looked very comfortable on the couch, especially after being pulled about like a rag doll. Clive and Graeme emerged from the back of the RV in new clothes and decided to sit down in their seats, preparing for Paul to give them the signal.

Amanda stepped in between the seats and looked between them, finding them very calm and collected even though they just brought on another member to their motley crew.

Within seconds of their silence, Paul burst out of the trailer, but naked, carrying Clives passport. That trailer was looking further away by the second.

"GO GO GO GO GO!" he shouted. Clive and Graeme sprung into action, turning on the RV and buckling themselves in. Graeme began to get out of his seat when Amanda stopped him, "I'll do it!" she told him, knowing he was going to open the door to prepare to grab Paul.

Graeme sat back down and Amanda rushed to the door, pushing it open with all her might as Clive pulled out onto the gridded road inside the RV park. From afar she could see Ruth's dad rush out behind him with a shot gun. She gasped and practically hung herself out of the RV. She could no longer see Paul and looked around frantically.

"SHOW YOURSELF DEMON!" Ruth's father yelled.

"Where are you, where are you?" Amanda called out.

"Passport, passport!" he replied, a brown passport suddenly waving through the air.

"JUMP, JUMP!" Amanda gasped, holding out her arms.

Ruth's father stopped and began aiming his shot gun at them. At last second, Paul suddenly appeared in front of her in full flesh, tackling her into the RV. They slammed onto the ground with a gasp and a thud. Right as they looked up, a gun shot fired through the air and hit some mailboxes right outside the door, causing them all to scream in terror.

Amanda shifted under Pauls weight and tried to peer through their legs out the door but only saw his…alien anatomy. She gasped and looked up at him.

"What, that's actually small on my planet!" he said matter-of-factly.

She partially gasped, partially yelped in reply and smirked. "Speaking of that…I had a dream about you last night." He said, grinning at her devilishly again, his voice sensual and quiet.

Her eyes widened. Now she was praying to some higher being that that wasn't what he was apologizing for the night before. Shutting her eyes tight, she clamped her knees together and began to roll over, kneeing him in the balls. He let out a groan and collapsed to the floor beside her.

"Oh dear God that was what you were talking about in your sleep last night?" she wailed, crawling away from him.

"Wha—I was talking in my sleep?" he asked, his voice strained, holding onto his crotch for dear life, trying to talk past the pain.

"YES!" she cried.

The RV went over a bump just as they exited the park and Amanda tumbled to the floor again, knocking Graeme's sketchbook to the ground. One loan paper flew out of it and drifted out the door, too quick for Amanda to reach for it. Their speed picked up and their heart rates started to die down. Graeme leaped out of his seat and pulled the door closed.

"Are you both all right?" he asked, helping Amanda up.

"We're fine!"

"Wait, so I was talking in my sleep last night?"

"Yes, you were! And do you really think that that was a good time to tell me…THAT?" she said pointing at his junk and then turning away so she didn't have to look at him fully naked again. He reached down and picked up his shorts.

"I never talk in my sleep!"

She gasped, her anger taking over, "So you WERE awake! I knew it! I knew you weren't drunk enough to actually talk in your sleep! Apologizing over and over again! What the fuck's that all about! You think that was funny?"

"I was asleep, damn it! AND I DON'T TALK IN MY SLEEP!"

"Well then you did last night! Apologizing!"

He paused and his face seemed to fall a bit. This sudden change took her off guard. His face matched how he was begging her last night to take her apology.

"…then I'm sorry. For the umpteenth time. _That_ apology was actually meant for you. The others weren't."

"Yeah. I figured." She huffed, sitting down in the armchair.

"Are you done arguing now? You could've woken Ruth!" Graeme sighed, walking over to the couch.

Clive looked over his shoulder a few times and shook his head. Paul looked over at Amanda, who tried not to notice him and only stared at Ruth. "It looks like we did." She muttered, seeing Ruth's eye start to open.

Carefully, Graeme sat down beside her, "Oh, uh, hello. Ruth? Ruth would you like a cup of tea?"

Ruth started pulling herself up, pushing the blanket off of her, "Where am I?" she said, sounding dazed.

"Hey look who's awake!" Paul smiled trying to sound positive. He had put his shorts back on and had made his way past Amanda to the passenger seat. Ruth's eye widened and she jumped off of the couch, pointing at him maniacally. Amanda looked between Ruth's finger and Paul.

"Demon! Demon!" she cried. Graeme stood up, prepared to console her.

"N—no we're sorry! We're sorry, we're not gonna hurt you I promise!" he guaranteed. Amanda snuck a peek at Paul who just shook his head, looking tired. He glanced at her, with rather sad eyes and then nestled himself into his seat.

"We'll let you go just as soon as we can!" Graeme added.

"You've been deceived by an agent of Satan himself! HE'S EVIL!" she screamed. Amanda rolled her eyes.

"He's sitting right here. Come on." She said in unison with Paul. They didn't even look at each other.

"No—no—no he's not evil! He's just a bit rude! You know we're trying to help him get home. He's from another world." Graeme shrugged, sounding like he was just giving her excuses. Amanda rubbed her hands together as Ruth reached for things to keep her balance with, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Th—there's only one world—OUR world. The world that our God the Father created!" Ruth pleaded with herself, her voice shaking. Paul stood up out of his chair and began to advance towards her, Amanda watching him carefully.

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, my existence only disproves traditional notions of the Abrahamic-Judaio Christian God, as well as one world theologies. That's all I meant." Paul explained. Amanda pressed her lips together and shrugged, "works for me." She muttered quietly.

Once he was finished talking, though, Ruth fell to her knees, clasping her hands together, singing to herself "Amazing Grace". Graeme tried to protest, stuttering and stammering, but he didn't prevail. Paul just gestured to her and moaned, "You can't win with these people."

"Ruth just listen to me for one second—please." Graeme tried to intervene. Clive even started grumbling to himself. Amanda had no idea what anyone was saying at this point. They all were speaking so fast and so quickly that all she could catch was Paul walking up to Ruth shouting, "Fuck this!" and then sticking his hand to her forehead.

Her eye seemed to widen like saucers and she looked numb. Without a moments notice, she collapsed to the ground again, moaning a bit, and Paul feel away from her, groaning.

"What did you do to her!" Graeme asked as Paul sat up. Amanda just shook her head, confused by what had just happened.

"I just transferred my collective knowledge and experience via tactile psychokinetic bridge."

"Oh WOW, could you do me?" Graeme asked, sitting beside him. Paul rubbed his head.

"It really takes it out of me." He sighed.

"Oh come on, please?" Graeme begged, sitting closer to him now. Paul sighed yet again and slammed his hand against Graeme's head. With a quiet, "oh wow", Graeme fell backwards and lay on the ground unconscious.

This time Amanda knew what had happened, but she still couldn't help but gasp and stand up, ready to jump away from him. Clive shook his head and Amanda tip toed around Graeme and Paul so she could sit in the passenger seat.

"Oh yeah," Clive grumbled, "always knew what was goin' on in battlestar before me because his mum had cable." Amanda sneered, quirked her eyebrow and snorted in response to his curmudgeonly statement.

"Alright, pull over I'll do you too!" Paul growled.

"ABSOLUTELY not! No spoilers!" Clive denied.

Paul rolled his eyes and hesitantly looked to Amanda. He shrugged and asked, "You wanna try it?"

Without looking back at him and she cleared her throat and shook her head, "No…I think I can live without it."

He didn't say anything and looked around at both Ruth and Graeme. "Eventually we'll have to pull over. They're gonna want some air."

"We can do that when they wake up." Clive replied.

Their was silence between all of them. Clive drove, Amanda played with her hands, and Paul just stood their. Quietly, he walked around Ruth and stepped into the bathroom. Clive suddenly smirked, and rose his voice to utter, " Awkward." Amanda furrowed her brows and punched Clive in the arm.

"Shut the fuck up."

But he was right. It was officially going to get awkward again.


	8. Another Beginning, and A Reunion

**I want to thank everyone for your thoughtful reviews!**

**It's fueling the power to write this chapter!**

**And I want to apologize for not having a set schedule for when I will update, but with my semester finals coming up, it will either keep me busy or give me time to update!  
>(Lots of three-day weekends for me!)<strong>

**This chapter will be pretty much about Amanda and Paul making up, and a quick skip through the montage so we can pick up the pace of this story!**

**Hopefully the next few chapters after this one are longer.**

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When Ruth and Graeme woke up, Ruth was the only one to make sure everyone knew what had just happened; almost crying about how she was so conflicted. That's what Amanda thought she was saying, but Ruth was blubbering too much and made it hard for anyone to understand her. Once she was done, she stared between Amanda and Graeme, like she was waiting for them to say something. But neither of them did, because they didn't know what to say. Taking the hint, Clive pulled over to the side of the road and Ruth burst through the door of the RV, Graeme right on her tail, calling her name.

While they had waited in silence, Paul and Amanda had switched seats, leaving Paul to converse with Clive at the front of the RV. And it didn't help that Amanda wasn't able to join in, so as not to make things "awkward" like Clive had pointed out. Why had everything Paul had been doing—talking in his sleep, calling her toots or babe, making sexual comments—made her so uncomfortable?

Millions of times it had happened before with her previous boyfriends or flings, and they never freaked her out. She would say that it was because he was an alien, but she was undoubtedly trying to get over that fact. To jump over that fence and treat him like a normal being even though he's not. But like a human, he was so stricken with guilt and easily jaded by her being upset. She was starting to feel guilty now, for treating him so poorly.

Always people told her she has acted prejudice towards some people, and who doesn't? Why was Paul so different, though? His being an alien is no weirder than someone believing in aliens. Maybe just as weird, actually. Otherwise all of her knowledge about him so far, besides his uncanny emotional resemblance to a world-weary old soul, was that he was from some sector out in space and that he was on the run from something; trying to get to somewhere.

She wanted this to be over, not the trip, but the arguing. Their relationship was turning out to be like the Rockies, up and down, up and down. It needed to be over, and quickly.

Standing up and fixing her glasses, Amanda strode over between the two front seats and stared out at Ruth and Graeme, who were being very much ignored by Clive and Paul. They just spoke about things Amanda wasn't paying attention to. Instead she just watched as Ruth was throwing her arms around while Graeme tried to reasonably explain something to her. She couldn't help but smile at how they were bonding. Probably his first experience with a girl he likes since everyone found out he wasn't gay.

"Who cares if you pissed your pants, man?" she heard Paul asked Clive. Blinking back to reality, she looked down between them. "When I first got here, the first time I saw a human, I puked." Paul said with a quiet, encouraging voice. Clive let out a snort, scratching a hand that rested on the steering wheel. Paul shifted in his seat and smiled up at Amanda, looking between the two humans.

"You guys are weird looking. You've got…GIANT bodies and tiny little—TINY heads." He shrugged. Clive quietly chuckled while Amanda revealed a toothy grin, looking nervously down at her toes.

"You're just being nice now." Clive muttered.

"Heh, no." Paul sighed. Hesitantly he held his hand out towards Clive's face, "Listen, you want a little sugar?"

For a moment, Clive seemed to freeze before trying to stretch out his neck and relax, making a noise that made Amanda feel like he was contemplating it, leaning towards a yes. Paul must've been offering what he had done to Graeme and Ruth. He looked fretfully at Paul who leaned on the armrest.

"It's just knowledge and experience, man, you're a writer. It might give you some inspiration." He said thoughtfully. Clive sighed, "Will it hurt?"

"Only if you struggle." Paul said with a smirk.

Pursing her lips, Amanda watched Clive carefully as he nodded his head and leaned towards Paul. In response, Paul lifted his long skinny hand up and gently placed it on Clive's forehead, groaning all the while like it was painful for him. Sucking in a breath, Clive seemed to inhale all the air out of the RV and just let it out through laughter as Paul's hand dropped from his red face. His face went blank last minute; he slammed his head down against the wheel. The horn began going off.

Amanda gasped out of surprise from the horn and finally giggled as she rubbed her cheek. Paul sighed and leaned against the back of the chair, "You sure you don't want to try it?"

She leaned forward and pushed Clive's head off of the steering wheel so the horn stopped, "I think I can gather my own knowledge and experience. But thank you for offering." She said quietly.

He nodded and looked out the window at Graeme and Ruth, who were still talking animatedly. Amanda kneeled between the seats and stared up at Paul, examining his tired face. Now was the time to do it.

"I'm sorry." She muttered.

"Hm?" Paul asked, turning his head to look at her.

"I…always seem to overreact to you, and its getting old." She shrugged.

"Hey, it's normal for humans. I'm different."

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter. We've known each other for two days. We need to stop this…on and off, hot and cold deal." She sighed.

"On and off?"

"Yeah. We're laughing, having a good time, next thing you know, you say one thing, I overreact and then everything goes haywire. We need to choose one setting." She muttered leaning on her elbow, setting it on her knee.

Paul shifted in his seat again, "Well, then, let me apologize again. I'm sorry for all the shit that I've done or said that's made you upset."

"And I'm sorry for overreacting to all of it, and making it super awkward in the process."

"And I apologize in advance for anything I might say or do." Paul finished; saying it like it was end of story, ending it on a high note.

Amanda smiled and held out her hand, "Feels like a new beginning Paul."

He took it, "It surely does. Babe."

She cocked her head and playfully quirked a brow. He lifted his hands up, grinning, "Sorry! Sorry!"

"I'm kidding, it's fine!" she laughed touching his forearm. Paul's eyes grew wide and he stared down at her hand. They both felt intensive heat between her hand and his arm. Her face dropped.

"What, what's wrong?" she asked quickly.

"Nothing—just—you shocked me."

"What, because I touched you?"

"…No you static shocked me."

"Oh—oh, sorry." She said, pulling her hand away from his arm.

But the way he played it off, she mustn't have shocked him in that way. They just apologized to one another, so she wasn't going to say anything. At least, now, they were on good terms.

A moan escaped Clive's lips and he sat up, looking dazed and a little high. He looked towards them and smiled, "Do either of you have a smoke?" he muffled. Paul smirked, "This is common, don't worry." He assured Amanda, getting up and stepping over her to grab a pack of cigarettes. He pulled out two and lit one for himself and Clive, just as Ruth and Graeme made their way back to the RV.

So as not to bother them, Amanda stood up and sat down on one of the seats at the table, rubbing her knees. Paul and Clive smoked in silence.

Graeme and Ruth entered the RV and Graeme prepared himself for a big announcement. "Ruth has decided she would like to come with us."

Paul turned around in his seat and smiled while Clive blew out a puff of smoke.

"Wicked."

Graeme pressed his lips together and frowned. Ruth pointed to the bathroom and muttered quietly, "I'm going to go freshen up." Amanda nodded and Paul jumped from his seat to follow her.

"Hey, Ruth, wait up!"

They stood right in front of Amanda, plainly looking at one another. "I just want to say thanks. I know this has been weird for you, but, you saved my life and I owe you one, okay?" Paul muttered with a warm smile.

Ruth tried her best not to look at him whatsoever, making things a little tense for herself. Both Paul and Amanda smirked and Paul gestured to her hidden eye, "What've you got there, by the way. Severe retinal memory complicated by macular edema in your vitreous cavity?"

"How did you know that?" Ruth asked suspiciously, looking rather amazed.

"Lucky guess." Paul shrugged, looking away. Amanda smiled. "Do you mind if I take a look at it for one second?" he asked.

Cautiously, Ruth looked to Amanda. She just nodded, "Trust me, he's harmless." Paul smirked in her direction and winked. Ruth nodded and pulled off her glasses, revealing a smoky eye hiding behind the black lens. Amanda's mouth almost dropped. It was sad sight in her opinion.

"What does it say in the old testament? An eye for an eye?" he shrugged, reaching up for her eye.

_You have got to be kidding me_, Amanda thought as Ruth blinked a few times and then began to shake her head. Was Paul really expecting to cure her of this? _Just because he's an alien, doesn't mean he can do everything_!

"Wait, I don't—I don't—"

"Just trust me." He muttered.

"I don't—no—"

"Have a little faith, okay?" He offered.

Her face seemed to drop and she looked a little scared. Her belief was obviously shaken by him, and here he was telling her to have faith. And surprisingly she did. She leaned down and allowed him to place his fingers over her eye, groaning as his muscles tensed and his body trembled. Ruth's eyes widened and she pulled away from him, revealing a beautiful blue eye to match the other. Apparently, Paul _can_ do anything.

Amanda's mouth dropped to the floor as Ruth blinked a few times and began touching her eye, gasping a few times. "How did you do that?" she gasped.

"Evolution, baby." Paul answered tiredly, smiling at her. Ruth looked at Amanda and Amanda stood up, looking at the woman she barely knew. She just reached up and grabbed this shaking woman's face, looking her straight in the eyes, smiling, "Look at you!"

"Look at me? Look at you! Because I can! With _both_ eyes!" Ruth squealed, grabbing Amanda's shoulders.

"Oh my God!" Amanda shrieked, wrapping her arms tightly around Ruth for no reason. This was life changing. She had physically witnessed Ruth's eye being fixed. Yes she saw Ruth and the others gain experience and knowledge, but this was physical proof that Paul fixed a human being. It was a miracle, and not of the Godly kind.

With a giant grin on her face, stretching as far as the eyes could see, Ruth jogged to the front of the RV and tapped on Graeme's shoulder. Paul and Amanda watched as Graeme and Clive gasped in surprise and started raving about her eye, about the miracle that had occurred. Amanda smiled at Paul and touched his shoulder.

He looked up at her and smiled, "I know. I'm awesome."

"Fuck yeah you are." Amanda laughed, fist bumping him.

From there, everything got better. Paul took a nap while Ruth, who had turned her shirt inside out, and Amanda talked and gossiped and stared out the window—Amanda pretty much had to explain the birds and the bees to her new found friend while sometimes catching Graeme sketching the pretty sightseer—Amanda watched Paul and Clive play some Chess, and she helplessly watched Paul try to drive an RV.

Even though it wasn't a big deal to the others, since they were all quite occupied, Amanda was the only one to notice the Wyoming State sign that beckoned them down the road. Paul was on the couch teaching Ruth how to swear when they passed it, and a huge weight fell off her shoulders, knowing she was at least in the same state as her family.

"Maybe I should call my dad." Ruth spoke up from the couch.

"What? WHY?" Graeme asked from the drivers seat, trying to look over his shoulder.

"I've been gone for the whole day, and if he calls the police they're going to be looking for us." She sighed. Graeme and Clive looked at each other rather worried and Amanda nodded, starting to wonder if her own family had tried to contact her, "If he does then we'll all end up in shit butt city."

Amanda scrunched up her nose at Ruth's attempt to swear and tried not to pipe up and correct her. Ruth could swear however she wanted for all Amanda cared; the world for her was open and free now.

Eventually night fell upon them and they came upon a very "inviting" bar. Bikes lined the side of the building and squeals, jeers and glass breaking could be heard from the outside of the bar. All of them, except for Paul, went inside to have a look around.

"The best we can get here are some shitty hot wings and piss warm beer. Why are we stopping here?" Amanda sighed.

"Because we just happened to pass by." Clive shrugged as he stared up at the glowing sign.

None of them, conveniently, noticed a familiar black truck hidden behind their RV. So, naively, they walked into the bar and were displeased to find it as crowded as they thought it'd be.

Ruth turned to glance uncertainly at Clive and Graeme, "We won't be long." She muttered, taking hold of Amanda's hand.

"Okay, be careful." Graeme said, a look of concern on his face as Ruth led Amanda through the crowd towards a phone by the bathrooms.

Ruth reached for the phone and pulled it off the receiver just as Amanda leaned against the wall, her back to the bar. A man walked out from the bathroom behind them, almost bumping into her.

"You sure you want to do this?"

"It'd be best, you know? Calm his nerves?"

"I guess." Amanda sighed as Ruth dialed the number and began talking to someone. The music kind of made her tune out, so she didn't know whom Ruth was talking to. She turned around to face to the bar, seeing all different kinds of people. Sailors, bikers, a few gay men, a couple whores, bartenders, toothless old men, the whole lot. She sighed and heard Ruth slam the phone onto the receiver and sigh.

Looking over her shoulder she asked, "What's wrong? Is he angry?"

"He's already called the police." She said rushed, grabbing Amanda's arm and pulling her into the bar again.

Before they got anywhere, they both smashed into two men, one tall and large, the other short and burly. They both began grabbing at the two of them, telling them to slow down and calm down, calling them "missy's". Amanda rolled her eyes and readjusted her glasses, looking up at the two men.

"Excuse us, _gentlemen_, but we need to—"

"Well looky here! If it isn't Miss Runaway Ruth!" the men laughed in her face, giving her a nickname. The two same men who she had hoped she'd never see again.

Both of them were as drunk as hell and the sight of them made Amanda want to cry and runaway all over again. She thought she had gotten rid of them, but it looks like after being kidnapped by them, they're like flies on a piece of garbage. They keep coming back. Ruth whispered in Amanda's ear, "Who are they and how do they know my name?"

"No, no. They're talking about me." Amanda said, trying to hide a trembling voice. Really, she didn't know why they scared her so much.

Maybe because she was getting used to being around nicer, gentler men like Clive and Graeme. And Paul, especially Paul.

"Oh, well, excuse us we have to get to our friends." Ruth said, trying to push through them, but Gus, she remembered his name, stopped them.

"You know I've got a friend down here that would just loooove to meet you! And he's been waiting to finally meet you." Gus grinned stupidly at Ruth before glaring at Amanda, stepping towards her, pulling at the zipper on his pants.

Like the idiots they were, they both just started laughing and bumbling out words, trying to form sentences. Ruth looked around frantically and Amanda just rubbed her forehead, wanting something to just happen so they could get away.

"A—as much as we would like to meet your penises, we're in kind of a hurry so if you could—" Ruth began, pushing through them, but they both grabbed Amanda and stopped them.

"Now hold on, it won't take long, sugar." Gus said aggressively, grabbing onto the end of Amanda's shirt.

She scratched at his arm, trying to firmly push him away, but he wouldn't let up, "No it won't take long at all." Jake laughed.

Ruth looked up at both of them, trying not to look at Amanda helplessly, trying to think of a plan. And Amanda hoped it'd be quick, because this was getting old, trying to push them both away as they tried to grip her clothes.

"Well, since your both being so romantic, maybe I could give it just a quick HELLO!" Ruth said sweetly before punching Gus in the groin, causing him to double over. Amanda yelped and Jake just seemed to let go of her, right before Ruth jumped back and punched him in the groin. Amanda hurtled over their bodies and caught up to Ruth who was speed walking through the bar as fast as she could, trying to find Graeme and Clive.

The two drunken men could be heard yelling and growling and groaning for them to come back. Ruth just tapped Graeme and Clive's shoulder, "We have to go." She said quietly, trying to pull Graeme away from the bar.

"What, why?" Graeme asked.

"We already ordered pizzas." Clive said, pointing back at the bar.

"That doesn't matter, we have to go now!" Amanda growled pulling at Clive's shirt.

Jake and Gus were there in a split second, "HOLY SHIIIIT. It's the space faggots, that dinged the fuck mobile!" Jack exclaimed angrily. Amanda lifted her hand to her mouth, "Oh my God." She wailed, pulling harder as Clives shirt, reaching for Graeme's arm. The two English men were too stunned to move or speak.

"Uh—yeahhhh—" Clive began as Amanda decided to try and walk away.

"We have to go, I don't feel very well—"

Jake violently grabbed her arm, "Oh no you don't!"

"Let go of me!" she immediately shrieked, prying at his fingers. Graeme jumped up from behind her, angrily yelling. "Let her go!"

With all his might, he placed his hands on Jake's chest and pushed him into a table of sailors. From there, all hell broke loose and they just had to get out of it. Sailors were tossing people around, bikers were punching one another, bartenders were screaming, beers were being thrown, the band was playing louder, Clive was bulldozing them out of the bar at full speed. Amanda thought she felt a tear fall down her cheek, but it was most likely beer.

They jumped out the door into the cool nighttime air and Amanda was able to breathe again, sucking it in before letting out a shaky sigh, moving faster than the rest of them. She let a distressed moan escape her lips as she rubbed her red-hot face.

"What about my dad?"

"That doesn't matter!" she heard Graeme and Ruth argue.

Behind them she could hear Jake and Gus yelling for them, and she was so tired that she just stopped running, allowing Ruth, Clive and Graeme to race past her.

"Just leave us alone you—you stupid vaginas!" Ruth yelled, frustrated.

"That's no way for a pretty thing like you to talk!" Gus growled. Graeme pulled at Ruth, "She's fairly new to it to be honest!" he apologized.

"Amanda COME ON!" Clive called.

"I can't." Amanda sighed, feeling like she was beginning to hyperventilate.

"Stay right here, I'll have a talk to them!" Clive said out of breath, jogging to her and pushing her towards the RV. She stumbled and looked back at him to see him turn around just in time to be punched in the face.

Her eyes widened and she screamed, "NO!" She ran at them, hoping they'd just disappear and she'd be able to help Clive up and they could just get in the RV and leave.

But no. Like a brick wall, they grabbed her and lifted her up off the ground, carrying her towards Graeme and Ruth. Graeme held his hands out, like he was creating some sort of force-field and Ruth looked like she was about to throw up. Amanda squirmed and yelped in their arms, trying to break free, not feeling any tears come out. They were just going to carry her back to their truck and she would be lost forever.

Her hair fell out of her face and her glasses fell to the ground, in one piece thank the Lord, and she stared up at the door to the RV. It was suddenly kicked open and Paul stood there in all of his glory, glaring at Gus and Jake.

And he looked absolutely pissed.

"YO FUCK NUTS." He growled.

With a sudden smirk crossing his face, Paul lifted up his finger and wiggled it around, "It's probin' time." He said, his voice low and deep.

Amanda stopped squirming and squinted at him as if _he_ was now God. Her feet fell to the ground and the brick wall behind her collapsed into the dust. She could feel her knees growing weak, and if he wanted her to, she would gladly collapse into Paul's arms, and let him carry her inside. Clive got up and ran up beside her, grabbing her glasses for her.

The others responses were different, Graeme just pointed and laughed, Ruth began to grin happily, and Paul stood triumphantly in the doorway. Amanda just kept staring at Paul, just wanting to fall over and die. But in the distance, everyone heard sirens.

"Oh SHIT, it's the 5-O, let's bounce!" Paul shouted, rushing further into the RV.

"I'm sorry, I answered the phone! They knew about us." Ruth sighed in despair. Clive led Amanda over to the RV and wiped the blood off of his nose, and both Graeme and Amanda began to reclaim their composure.

"…Get in the RV." Paul growled, looking at each of them in all seriousness.

They all rushed into the RV and all begged Clive to hurry it up and get the RV out of there. In the process, they put another dent in the "fuck mobile", and Amanda was severely proud despite feeling numb from the inside out.

While they pulled out onto the road, Amanda walked up right to Paul and grabbed him by the shoulders. She knelt down and wrapped her arms right around him, kissing his gray green cheek in the process.

"Thank you…thank you, thank you, thank you. So much." She whispered into his ear, tightly shutting her eyes. Slowly, his own skinny arms snaked around her body and he nestled his chin into her shoulder.

"They were the ones that kidnapped you weren't they?" he asked as she began to pull away. They looked each other in the eye and Amanda nodded, trying not to look away.

She wanted to stare into the big, guilt stricken eyes. She wanted to see more than guilt. She wanted to see the pride from not even two seconds earlier. Wanted to see her make him more than just sad, or—or horny.

He nodded and rubbed her shoulder, "You're welcome."

With that, she stood up and pushed hair out of her face, finally seeing a glint of happiness in his eyes.

"Now…we need to get off the road."


	9. A Reveal, and A Forced Decision

**Thanks again for more of your reviews!**

**They keep a lady going!**

**And I love getting feedback; it really helps me improve my chapters.**

**Thank you so much to Night-Weaver369 and charlie167 for giving me suggestions about Amanda and Paul's relationship.**

**Hopefully it will go much smoothly from here if I can figure out how to incorporate what you asked for.**

**Here's chapter 9 (sorry if it's probably a little half-assed)!**

**Read &_ REVIEW_**

"Okay, we need to get off the road." Paul sighed, clenching onto Graeme's seat tightly.

Ruth had grabbed a hold of Amanda's hand and was squeezing it just as tight, until her knuckles turned white. Now was the time for a good plan on Paul's part, seeing as how they were running from the police, two rednecks, possibly Ruth's father, and whatever Paul was running from. To all of them, judging by their reactions to his demand, they thought his idea of getting off the road was idiotic.

"Shouldn't we keep moving?" Ruth asked.

"No, that is exactly what they'd expect us to do. Trust me. Only an idiot would stop right now." Paul nodded, staring out the window intently. Graeme looked at Clive hesitantly and shrugged, but Amanda just nodded and squeezed Ruth's hand in return.

She looked down at him; "He's the expert, so he's probably right."

"Yes, thank you. Oh—oh! Pull in here!" Paul shouted, pointing out the window to a big dirty sign reading "Rolfe's RV PARK". Amanda blinked a few times and shook her head, confused all of a sudden.

"What?" Graeme questioned while everyone else gave Paul an odd look.

"We're idiots, remember?"

Compliant, Clive pulled into the park, driving along until someone pointed out an open spot. Once they were parked, everyone began jumbling around the RV, trying to get comfortable. It seemed like no one wanted to even leave the place for fear of being grabbed and taken and questioned about Paul or aliens. Feeling bad for getting Clive a bloody nose, Amanda was the first to the bathroom to pull out tissue paper and stuff it up his nose.

"Thanks for trying to…defend me back there. You really didn't have to." She sighed; pushing his head back and sticking the paper gently up his nose after wiping off his upper lip. He shook his head, "I did have to. You were in trouble. And you're my friend." He shrugged, sounding not very sure about his reply.

She smirked and finished him up. With a sigh, she walked over and sat next to Graeme, patting his knee. She planned on thanking him later for also trying to be a little heroic. It was nice of them. And Clive calling her his friend? How could she ever thank him for that? After all they had experienced together in the last two-three days, she was surprised they didn't consider her a sister.

They found an alien together, they saved her from crazy red necks—almost twice! And they got Graeme a girlfriend, all while gaining knowledge and experience from an outer world being. To think that this all happened just because she was trying to get home.

"So, what do we do now?" Clive asked, clapping his hands together.

Graeme shrugged, "Well how about hot chocolate in bed?" he suggested, looking like he wanted that to be their only option.

"What're you, my grandma?" Paul said, quirking a brow, looking at Amanda. She smirked and he smirked back, like he was purposefully trying to get a laugh out of her.

Ruth came out from the back of the RV, with her shirt all messed up again. It was still inside out, but this time a big V was cut into the collar of her shirt. And almost everyone noticed it's affect on Graeme. He looked at her like he had never seen her before. Like she really was the first girl he ever laid eyes on. Like he was twelve.

"I tried to sleep but I'm too pumped." She sighed, leaning on the counter.

"Fuck yeah, let's get some beers, find a place to chill!" Paul agreed, jumping from one foot to the other. Amanda shrugged.

"I'm game, let's do it."

"What if someone sees you?" Ruth asked, grimacing.

"It's dead out there! And I can do this!" he pointed out, sucking in a breath, disappearing.

With an impressive nod, Ruth smiled, "Okay! I'm in!"

"Rocky?" Paul's strained voice called from beyond. Clive shrugged, "Sure."

"Bullwinkle?" he said. Graeme sighed, "Well I'm a little bit tired."

"Don't be a pussy!" Paul strained to say. Amanda smiled and knocked knees with Graeme as he whimpered, visibly insulted, "Don't call me a pussy…Alright."

A collective hurrah was shared with the group and they all stood in unison, Paul appearing out of nowhere. Clive grabbed his jacket and Graeme offered his to Ruth who gladly took it. Paul looked up at Amanda and shrugged, "If I had one, I'd offer."

She shook her head, "It's all good, I have a blanket." She laughed, grabbing the blanket from the couch.

They led one another out into the RV park and Paul inhaled deeply and vanished. His shorts and backpack came off and they hung in mid air in her general direction. Hesitantly, she reached for them and took them to hold. He said his thank you and they marched off to follow Clive and Graeme and Ruth. For a few minutes they walked down the road and Paul felt it was an okay time to appear, letting Amanda still hold onto his shorts and backpack uncomfortably.

When they arrived into the town, Amanda actually recognized it, despite it being pitch black outside. She had passed through there many times and had stopped to sight see with her parents. That was a fun time for her, getting to stop and walk around the town while her parents filled everything up with gas and got snacks.

If she remembered the way, she could easily walk home from here. Maybe this was her last stop with all of them. She shook the thought out of her head and followed Clive into a convenient store, leaving Graeme behind to window shop with Ruth.

She grabbed chips and some snacks while Clive picked out a few packs of beers, both of them meeting up at the counter so they could pay. The old clerk didn't even pay mind to them, so they probably weren't the first ones in there that night who had bought some food and beers. Must've been a regular thing to have tourists be like that.

Carrying Paul's shorts and backpack under her arm, they exited the store to find Paul standing between a shocked Graeme and Ruth stark naked. Paul breathed heavily.

"I'm sorry! I thought I was gonna pass out!" he panted. Clive and Amanda advanced towards them and stared at them oddly.

"What was happening?" Clive asked, sticking a hand in his pocket.

"Nothing, nothing! Just hanging around." Graeme played off.

Paul smiled up at Clive, still panting, "They were about to make out. It was AWKWARD." He shrugged. Amanda raised her brows and looked at the two of them playfully.

"Oh! Really!" she laughed. Graeme just started shaking his head and Clive gave him the worst death glare yet. Paul nodded and took his stuff from Amanda.

"Yeah. So she could practice." He chuckled as he slipped on his pants and pulled on his backpack. By that time, Clive had already led Graeme and Ruth awkwardly towards a patch of woods. Amanda let out a guffaw.

"Practice? On Graeme?"

"He said they'd kissed before!" he laughed.

She gasped and turned to him, like he was her new BFF and they were gossiping, "What? Why do I miss everything?" she groaned, throwing her head back in frustration, a smile crossing her face.

"Hey, you didn't miss much." He chuckled. He allowed her to enter the woods before him, snaking down a hill until they found a flat patch of land that Clive was beginning to start a fire on. They set up camp there and Amanda sat between Graeme and Ruth, so as to ease Clive's tension.

Immediately, Paul lit a blunt he had in his backpack once the fire started really going. Graeme opened a beer for everyone but Amanda and leaned back on his hands. Paul, holding in a puff of smoke, held out the blunt, offering it to all of them.

"You guys partake?"

"No thank you." Graeme and Amanda said at the same time, shaking their heads.

"I'll partake." Ruth answered. Everyone looked to her in surprise.

Paul chuckled, "Are you sure? Cause this is pretty strong shit, I got this from the military actually, this is the stuff that killed Dylan!" he said matter-of-factly. Amanda scrunched up her face, not knowing who Dylan was.

Graeme laughed, "Bob Dylan isn't dead." Amanda nodded, knowing who Bob Dylan was.

"Isn't he?" Paul asked, smirking.

He only stared at Paul dumbfounded while Ruth took a long swig of beer. She set the bottle down, "Hit me!"

"Okay. Just. Go easy on it." He muttered, passing it to Clive, who passed it to Ruth.

Graeme wanted to protest, but he couldn't find the voice for it. Paul reminded her to just have a little bit. Placing it to her lips, she pulled it all in and then let it out easy after holding it. She shrugged and passed it back.

"It's not so bad."

"To be fair, it takes a while to absorb." Clive said, passing it to Paul.

Before he could even finish his sentence Ruth was already laughing her ass off. She swayed back and forth, laughing at them; Amanda even had to lean away from her so Ruth wouldn't laugh in her face. Heavily, she fell backwards to the ground, still giggling like mad. She sat up, with a gasp.

"I'm hungry!" she exclaimed, "we should cook up some sausages. Do we have any sausages?" she asked, looking at Graeme and Clive desperately.

"Uh—" Graeme began.

"What do you mean by that?" Ruth said, staring at him intently. "Why do you guys hate me? Can we cook up some sausages? OH I HAVE WASPS IN MY BRAIN." She cried out before collapsing right next to Amanda.

Placing a hand over her heart, Amanda just started giggling and snickering, pointing to Ruth like she was some drunk they had stumbled upon. Paul nodded, "She'll be fine. That happened to me the first time."

Shifting uncomfortably, Graeme looked at Paul, "Paul…I just—wanted to ask, you know us now, right?" he asked, pointing to the three of them.

Paul held in some smoke, "Yeah, we're like bonafied BFF's."

Graeme chuckled, "Why are you in such a hurry to leave now?"

He had his attention, and certainly Amanda's. Amanda had been wanting to know that the whole time they were with him. But she was getting caught up with everything else that she didn't really think about it. She shifted as well, away from Ruth, and scooted closer to Graeme to listen to Paul's excuse.

Paul exhaled smoke and shrugged, his face growing serious, looking him in the eye, "Well, according to the government, I've fulfilled my usefulness."

They all nodded. "I've told them everything I know. The only thing I have left off for them now, are my abilities. The healing, the thought transfer, the camouflage. In order to cultivate those abilities, they need some of my stem cells. And I'm not really down with that." He said, shaking his head, his face showing his pure hatred of the idea.

Amanda watched him, her brows furrowed. He was starting to look angry, but relieved.

"Luckily, I have a buddy on the inside. Helped me get an S.O.S. beamed into space. I got my people primed and ready to pick me up." He nodded before almost throwing the blunt into the fire. "But then, the mother fuckers brought the procedure forward by a day—my whole plan goes to shit."

"What happened?" Clive finally asked.

"On the way to the meta-labs, I zapped my escort, stole his car and took off."

"And then you found us." Amanda muttered. He smiled at her, nodding, "Then I found you guys."

"What happens if you get caught?" Graeme said, his face laced with uncertainty.

"Graeme…" Paul muttered, looking down at his hands, "they're going to cut out my brain."

Everything went quiet, and they all stared at him dumbfounded. Amanda wasn't surprised that the government would do that, but still hearing about it made her stomach churn. Paul being cut open, his brain being harvested for research? She didn't want to really think about it. And didn't want that to happen to any of them.

"Yeah it's fucked." He shrugged. "It's kind of a buzz kill. Let's lighten the mood, shall we?"

He turned to Clive, "Clive when did you last get laid?" he asked, gesturing to him.

Clive awkwardly laughed and shook hair out of his face, "Oh! Uh…Kilectomania London '08?" he guessed, half answering with Graeme, who helped him remember the year. Amanda smiled at how adorably awkward they were.

"Ewok chick." Clive laughed.

"Clive likes boning space bears." Paul chanted before bursting into laughter. Graeme and Amanda began laughing as well as Clive embarrassedly turned pink and told them all to shut up. Paul placed the blunt to his lips.

"No seriously," he inhaled, "what was it like?"

Clive shrugged, "Well. She was furry nice!" he said, joking about himself. Even though it really wasn't that funny, it wouldn't even pass with kids, they all burst into laughter. Amanda and Graeme almost doubled over as Paul exclaimed in disgust and began laughing along with them. Graeme even slapped his knee a few times.

Slowly, their laughs died and they continued with small talk. But Amanda didn't know what to say. So Paul _was_ trying to get back home. And it was confirmed he was running from the government for fear of death. They were close to where he needed to be, they don't need her for the last leg of the trip, most likely. Now was a pretty good time to tell them her plan.

"How much further until you get to where you need to be?" she asked, scratching her arm under the wool blanket. Paul looked up at her and threw his finished blunt into the fire.

"Not much further. Maybe a few pit stops. Why?"

Sucking in a breath, she looked at each of them, "Well…we're really close to where I need to go, and…I have something really important to do…so I thought I would walk home tomorrow morning."

They all just sort of stared at her confused, "Walk home?" Clive asked.

She nodded, "Yeah. Like I said, I have something important coming up tomorrow—"

_I already missed my cousins birthday today…shit. _

"—my family is waiting to see me—"

_I really need to call them…shit. _

"—and you don't need me to get you to where you need to go." She finished.

Again, they all stared at her confused, "But…we're in this together." Graeme muttered.

He was making her feel guilty, "Graeme, I know. And it's been fun! But I have a life too…I'm tired of trying to run and get Paul home. I need to get home too." She said, trying not to sound too selfish. Paul nodded.

"You picked her up before me. She has priority." He admitted.

"But your situation is more dire." Graeme pointed out.

"Guys, it'll be like your birthday present to me." She piped up, shrugging, trying to get them to shut up.

They stared at her. Again.

"Birthday present? Is it your birthday?" Paul asked, looking offended by the fact that she didn't say anything. At least she thought she had said something.

"My birthday is…uh…"

_Tomorrow! _

"—in a few days."

Clive pressed his lips together and nodded, "Would you like a ride there?"

"Nah. Like Graeme said, Paul's situation is dire and you guys need to get back on the road. I can walk." She said, waving her hand at them. Deciding to walk in the morning though was stupid. It would be hot as hell. But she wanted to spend that last night with them

Paul nodded and looked down, "Alrighty then. Let's party I guess."

But they ended up not partying. Five minutes into "partying", they all started to fall asleep. Amanda was so tired, she hadn't even noticed Graeme crawl around her and fall asleep next to Ruth. She scooted over in his old spot and lay down beside Paul, who stared up at the sky.

"You excited to go home?" she muffled.

He smiled, "Yeah. Are you?"

She nodded, shutting her eyes, leaving her glasses on, "You have no idea. I miss my parents."

"Who wouldn't." he sighed.

She rubbed her cheek and nestled further into the blanket, "I miss my grandma too. She would love to meet you."

"Ahhh, inviting me to see the family now? I'm honored."

"My grandma just likes aliens. She would freak at the sight of you. In a good way." She giggled, keeping her eyes shut.

"Go to sleep, babe. You have a long day tomorrow." He muttered, patting her shoulder.

"Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad we're friends now."

He was quiet for a moment. "Me too, babe. Me too."

And then she fell asleep.

When she woke up again, luckily by her body clock, she stretched and readjusted her now rather messed up glasses. She stood up and scratched her side, looking at everyone intently. Ruth was gone though. Amanda just shrugged and figured she went back to the RV.

Deciding to take one last walk through town, maybe try and steal some clothes from a small store, she trudged up the hill, leaving the blanket behind. She walked into town where dozens of people were walking around. It was nice not having to sleep in an RV, and waking up to go out and see real people, not just a desert.

Every store window she looked in, though, was just full of fun costumes and tourist memorabilia. She'd smash her nose against the window, look around and then growl to herself, pushing on to the next store. How could no one in that town, clearly mark a store that sells clothing? After a half an hour of looking around, she almost gave up, thinking about just starting off on her journey now. She even found a payphone and called her mom with her last few quarters, who really was worried.

Her mom asked her all these questions and Amanda lied, saying the bus had broken down and she had to find other means of travel. She had missed her moms voice, and loved her moms promise of her favorite dinner being prepared for her. Lamb chops. Her mom reluctantly believed her and Amanda promised she'd be home soon. But she didn't know how soon 'soon' was. So she forgot about the clothes and began walking towards the highway.

Behind her, not too far back she heard people whispering and muttering, just as she almost reached the edge of town. She looked over her shoulder, thinking someone with a fancy car had driven through. But no. Almost right behind her, were Graeme and Clive, walking around with Paul, dressed as a small cowboy. She gasped, scrunched up her face and stomped back to them, just as Clive peeled off and went window shopping.

"What the fuck are you guys doing?" she hissed pushing Graeme's shoulder.

"Hey, we thought you had left!"

"You are making fools of yourself! Why the hell are you wearing that?" she growled, gesturing to Paul.

"I can't hold my breath to make it to the RV. This was my alternative to people pissing their pants." He grumbled.

"Let's go get Clive!" Amanda sighed, pushing Paul and Graeme inside towards the store Clive was looking at, none of them seeing Ruth's dad exit the store they had just passed.

They walked right up to Clive and began whispering, "Clive what are you doing?" Graeme hissed.

"Yeah man, what the fuck?" Paul added. Clive just drooled over a sign that read, "BLACK VAMPIRE KATANA $200". Amanda rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips.

He gestured to it and Graeme shrugged, "I can appreciate the bargain for it, but this is just…NOT Comic-Con right now, okay? This is reality."

Paul nodded, "It's a false economy anyway, it'll break the first time you use it, okay? Let's GO."

"Why would I ever use it?"

"Can we just go?"

"Yes, can you just go? GO to the RV! Right now!" Amanda practically ordered, trying to push Clive away from the window.

Paul grabbed her arm and stared inside the store, "Wait. Maybe we should go inside."

"What?" Amanda hissed.

"We'll hide out. Graeme can go back and get Ruth, get the RV, pick us up in ten minutes." Paul argued, receiving a look of dismay from Graeme. He looked so torn.

But Amanda just wanted them to leave, because they were drawing more attention than they needed. They were also distracting her from leaving. She set her hands on her hips again and shook her head.

"You sure?" Graeme whispered.

"Trust me." Paul muttered.

Graeme just looked up at Amanda, who menacingly glared at him, and then he ran off. Clive pumped his fist into the air and rushed into the store. Paul followed and Amanda just groaned. She needed to leave, she couldn't stay with them. It was the morning of her birthday and she thought she was going to spend it traveling. Well, hiding out in a store with Paul dressed as a cowboy was better than walking, she had to admit.

"Once he brings around the RV, you guys are gone!" she said, pointing at Paul.

"Don't worry, we'll say our nice good byes and we'll leave you to dry up in the desert on the walk home." He shrugged, walking over to the magazine and comics.

Clive had already started playing with the sword behind the counter with the clerk. Amanda followed Paul, who was pulling off his sunglasses and bandana, when she spotted clothes right next to the comics. T-shirts and khaki shorts.

"Clothes! Score!" she gasped, grabbing at a black t-shirt. It was a men's extra large.

"Yeah, you do need to change." Paul commented, smirking at her, picking up a random comic. She unfolded the shirt and held it out in front of her, trying to grab at some shorts. Hearing Clive talking to the cashier, she decided that he was distracted enough to not notice her changing right across the room.

She reached out and tapped Paul on the shoulder, already pulling at her sweaty shirt, "Keep a look out for me, will ya?"

"Oh, you're stealing those, aren't you?" he chuckled, looking down at his comic book. She rolled her eyes and pulled her shirt over her head, knocking her glasses off.

"Obviously. Just make sure there are no peeping toms. And that includes you!" she joked, kicking her sandals off. He threw his head back and laughed.

"Me? A peeping tom? Why would I—" he started to say, but when he turned to talk to her, he stopped himself. He just stared at her crumbling up her old crusty shirt and tossing it to the floor in a heap before prying at the button on her shorts, peeling them off of her hips and sliding them down her thin legs before punting them over to her shirt.

She bent down, her lacy garments moving with her fluidly. With delicate fingers, she picked up her glasses and set them down on the t-shirt table. Paul's mouth pretty much dropped to the floor, but she didn't notice. She was too busy looking around to make sure no one else was watching. Scrunching up her little nose, she held the shirt in front of her and glared at it. She half-heartedly folded it up and threw it back on the table before rummaging for another one, between a puke green, navy blue and crimson red. She didn't seem satisfied with any of them. Without even thinking, Paul started a conversation with a kid named Keith Nash, who wore karate robes. They talked about comics and how Paul was an alien; Keith seemed like a trustworthy kid. And Paul kept stealing glances at Amanda, who just stood there in her underwear, trying to pick something that fit. He was actually getting annoyed that she was unknowingly torturing him.

He sighed and watched Keith stuff a comic book he had recommended into his karate robes, and he approved. Keith said his good bye and Amanda finally turned around, covering herself up with a shirt.

"Was that a kid?" she hissed as Keith approached the door.

"Yup. Keith Nash. And no, he wasn't a peeping tom. He didn't even care that you stood there, half naked for everyone to see." He laughed, waving to Keith. Amanda sighed and waved as well, feeling like she was surprisingly invisible.

Clive didn't notice her naked, the cashier didn't, Keith barely noticed, people outside didn't notice. Did Paul notice?

"Happy trails!" Paul joked. They both continued to wave, Paul even pulled off his cowboy hat and posed, right as someone walked in the door. Silently gasping, Amanda posed as well, putting on a fake, mannequin like smile, trying to stay as still as possible.

The man who walked in the door was none other than the small suited agent she had met days before with Graeme and Clive, just after they ran into Paul.

They were there? They _were_ they looking for Paul?

The agent stopped once he had entered and just stared at the two of them, half smiling.

"HUH." He laughed, walking towards them. "Pretty good!" he admitted, pointing at Paul. The other agent, whoever it was, actually knocked on the door and told him to speed it up. The small agent just pulled out a comic book and started to flip through it, occasionally eyeing Amanda.

She wanted to roll her eyes, but she was more concentrated on keeping her chest from heaving from anxiety. "Be right out!" the small agent grumbled. He put the comic book back and squeezed past the two frozen "mannequins", mumbling about something.

His pace slowed and he sighed, spinning around to walk towards Amanda, "Just to check." He muttered to himself before finally holding his finger out and poking her right in the chest. God, the nagging feeling to punch him was growing deep inside of her. She should've just gotten dressed instead parading around like a half naked whore. He laughed in disbelief, "Wow…they make them so real."

Then, without waiting, he looked down at Paul and stepped away, just to get a good look at him. Eyeing him suspiciously, a playful smirk on his face, he pretending to reach for his gun. Paul didn't flinch. The small agent stepped forward again and bent down in front of him, staring Paul in the gray face.

"Space man balls?" he suddenly chuckled, grinning. Looking around for good measures, the agent reached forward and unzipped Paul's pants. When Amanda heard the zip, she unfroze and looked down at the agent, gasping loudly. For a second, he even looked up at her in surprise.

"Get your god damn hands off my mother fuckin' junk!" Paul growled, sticking his face right into the face of the agent. The agent fell backwards and screamed, jumping out of the store wailing, "IT'S IN THERE. IT'S IN THERE." Like a little baby.

Amanda's immediate reaction was just to grab her glasses from the t-shirt table and run to Clive, who already held the Black Vampire Katana and an alien mask in hand. She hid right behind him, ignoring the looks and stares from the cashier. Paul had already stripped of his clothing and was completely invisible now. Clive pulled the mask over his face right when the other agent entered the store, pointing his gun.

The agent jumped out of his shoes when Clive turned around and waved, "Hello!" he sang.

Angrily, he dropped his gun and shook his head, "O'REILLY. You dumb ass, it's just an asshole in a ma—"

Nothing seemed to go there way at the right time, because right when the agent turned around, Paul let out his breath and appeared before the him, panting. "Holy Mary mother of God." The agent swore, staring at Paul.

"I gotta quit smokin'." Paul panted.

Clive charged at the agent and pushed him over, leaving Amanda to sprint at Paul.

"RUN, RUN, RUN!" she shrieked, sprinting out of the store without her shoes, with Paul and Clive right behind her. People out in the streets starting screaming at the sight of them: a half naked woman, a small alien, and a fat guy with an alien mask. One woman even fainted as they passed.

Paul ran ahead and ran across the street, almost getting them hit by a PT Cruiser. Amanda yelped and almost stopped right in her tracks, except Paul grasped her hand.

"COME ON, LET'S GO!" he ordered them.

Gun shots fired out after them and Paul pulled Amanda's arm down so they rolled onto the sidewalk, right as a glass window over them shattered into a million pieces. Clive did his best to pull them up, "HURRY!" he shouted. Amanda scrambled to her feet and bumped right into some woman who gasped and pushed her away.

Amanda ran past her, bumping shoulders with her again, "EXCUSE ME!" Amanda shouted.

"Amanda?" the woman gasped. Amanda stopped and spun her head around, her hair whipping her in the face. She looked into the face of a family member.

And not just any family member. But her newly turned twenty one year old cousin.

"Wha—Caitlin?" Amanda gasped. She felt long skinny fingers wrap around her forearm as yet another shot was fired at them, breaking another window. Her cousin shrieked and fell to the ground, covering her head.

"WE GOTTA GO! COME ON!" Paul growled, tugging her away. Amanda reluctantly looked back over her shoulder at her cousin, who glared at her furiously. If Amanda had stayed there, she either would've gotten an earful from Caitlin, or been shot and THEN gotten an earful from Caitlin.

Screeching to a halt in front of them, was the RV, which Amanda was glad to see. Ruth pushed open the door for them, "Hurry up, butt cracks!" she swore.

They all rushed in, jumping onto the couch just as they heard one of the agents yell, "Hey! It's that nerd!"

The other one let out a growl of pain as Keith Nash ran up to him and connected his toe to the agents nards. He had his gun ready to shoot Graeme and everything. Amanda and Paul exclaimed in triumph as Keith Nash ran away and the agent just knelt to the ground in pain.

"Who was that kid?" Graeme asked quickly.

"Keith Nash! Now punch it!" Paul grinned.

Graeme sped away, taking a sharp turn, almost knocking everyone to the floor. Which Amanda did. She fell off the couch and grabbed the carpeting, "You don't mind if I tag along just a little while longer do you?" she called up to Graeme. He just laughed and they sped off into the distance.

As much as she loved them all, and found fun in this escapade, she really should have just left town.


	10. An Illegitimate Family, and an Escape

**Ah, another day, another chapter.**

**The good stuff is on its way, cause they're now making their way further into Wyoming.**

**OOOOOO WYOOOOMING.**

**This chapter only kind of works out how I wanted it to, so I think it will suffice.  
>Here's chapter 10 (aw yeah, ten chapters already).<strong>

**Read & _REVIEW_**

Amanda crawled to her feet, trying desperately to grab a hold of someone so she wouldn't lose her balance again. She stared down at the carpet, which was looping between her toes. With a gasp, she looked down at the rest of her attire, which including undies and a bra. Most people don't consider that attire.

"I forgot my shoes!" was the first thing she proclaimed.

"Yeah, and every thing else." Paul snorted, rolling his eyes. In midst of a full blown heart attack, Ruth looked Amanda up and down, looking a little embarrassed herself.

_How stupid can I be? Not even grabbing a shirt!_ Amanda grumbled inwardly, trying to focus on the horizon ahead. But a little red-orange dot in the side view mirror made her double take, having occasionally caught her eye. She launched forward and leaned against Graeme's seat to get a better look of the mirror.

Graeme flinched and whipped his head around to glance over his shoulder. He inhaled sharply and turned back, "Amanda—are you naked?"

Furrowing her brows, Amanda slapped her hands on either side of Graeme's eyes, like a horse pulling a buggy, forcing him to stare forward. "Don't worry about it!" she ordered, squinting at the mirror.

The red-orange vehicle was approaching quickly, and certainly wasn't a government issued car. But it looked familiar all the same, like she had seen it from the corner of her eye during their expedition, but couldn't exactly identify it. Ruth came up next to her and moaned, "Oh no it's my dad!"

"That's who that is?" Amanda said immediately, sneering a bit in surprise.

"This guys doesn't quit!" Paul said in astonishment. "I kinda have to respect it." He added, mumbling to himself.

Angrily, she grunted through gritted teeth, "Grrr, so what do we do? Throw shit at him?"

"What?" Clive asked, quirking a brow.

"Don't we want to get him off our tail? Let's throw something!" Amanda offered, ignoring the face Ruth was making. It determined that Ruth wasn't up to that plan. Graeme pressed his lips together and turned the wheel violently.

Everyone, especially Amanda, grabbed ahold of something and braced themselves for the RV to tip just a little bit. Once they came out of it, they could hear the wheels of Ruth's dad's truck screech, having pulled the same turn. Clive started bouncing up and down in place.

"C'mon Graeme, drive a little faster." He advised, clenching his jaw.

"Go away dad!" Ruth yelled in the process.

"Everybody just calm down!" Paul said, sounding only slightly calm himself.

"Those ass whores are going to catch us!" Ruth whined.

"I said calm down!" Paul growled.

Amanda rolled her eyes and shook her head violently, staring out the window intently, looking in every possibly direction. Up ahead, she saw a store with a large sign in front of it. Large enough to hide a full sized RV. With a quick check in the side view mirror, seeing how far Ruth's dad actually was behind them, she lifted her hand up and desperately pointed at the shop.

"Graeme! Pull over, pull over!"

"Pull over?" Graeme asked, sounding very unsure. She practically threw herself onto the dashboard, pointing more ferociously.

"PULL OVER."

Following her command, Graeme turned the wheel just in time to turn in and pull up behind the large sign. He inched forward a bit, just to make sure, but they stopped and watched as Ruth's dad's truck drove past them, unknowingly leaving them behind. Amanda let out a sigh that transcended to Paul and Clive.

Ruth leaned back in the passenger seat and sighed as well, Graeme smiling back at all of them contently. Out of the corner of her eye, Amanda saw a black car drive past, but didn't look up in time to the see anything substantial. She looked over her shoulder at Paul, who appeared deep in thought. Something was digging at him, and it was more guilt than Amanda had seen before.

"Family meeting." Amanda decided, spinning on her heels and walking back to the couch. She sat down and patted the cushions, looking expectantly at Ruth, Graeme and Clive. They all sort of half-heartedly stood up and trudged over, leaving Paul no room. Instead, he stood up in front of them, rubbing his hands, trying to find the words to speak. When the three others had sat down, Amanda found him staring at her; not at her half naked body, but in her eyes. As if to say thank you. She just smiled and rubbed her knees.

While Paul took a second to think, Amanda shifted in her seat, feeling something under her leg. She reached under and pulled out Clive's alien mask. Giving it a look over, she handed it to him. He took it and stuck his hand up into it, a finger poking out through one bullet hole and then another. He frowned and scratched his head.

"Alright," Paul started, "that's it. This is too dangerous, I—I can make it on my own from here."

Everyone furrowed their brows and opened and closed their mouths like fish out of water. He was pulling what Amanda had decided to pull. Granted it was for their safety, he was thinking of them, and she was only thinking about her birthday but, still. They had both come to the conclusion that it was best if they just skipped off.

"What do you mean?" Graeme protested.

"No, Graeme, you've done enough. I'll—I'll—boost a car or something. I can drive an automatic!" he shrugged, like it was no big deal.

Amanda's eyes widened and her brows dropped, "You're a terrible driver!"

"She's right, Paul, you can't even drive a spaceship." Clive shrugged, nodding in agreement with her.

"I'm close now." Paul insisted, "I'll be fine."

Ruth shifted in her seat, "B—but we've come all this way."

He started to pace, "And at what cost? I've shaken your faith," he pointed to Ruth, "I've done—" he pointed to Amanda, but hesitated and coughed instead, "—things—and I've almost gotten you all killed! I just—"

Everyone stayed quiet. "I just wanted to get home." He muttered sadly.

Clive began to nod, "You _are_ going home. I think we've come too far to let you do this alone."

"Yeah, what happened to BFF's? We are in this together, Paul!" Graeme added in.

Nodding, Amanda piped up, "He's right. I know I denied that earlier, when I said I was going to leave, but look where that's gotten me? Half naked and back inside this stupid RV! This stupid, homey, life changing RV! We're going to get you home, as a team. I'm…WE'RE not going to let you do this alone!"

"You bet your hairy love eggs we're not!" Ruth agreed. "The last 72 hours have been the ride of my life, and I'm fucked if I'm getting off this bus now!" she preached, standing up and putting her foot down.

Graeme and Clive followed, finishing with Amanda who did it for dramatic reasons. With her nakedness, she didn't want to stand up at all.

"Me too!" Graeme said bravely.

"And me!" Clive said darkly.

"Don't forget me." Amanda said, raising an arm that she then crossed with the other, hoping to cover herself a little.

Ruth nodded, glancing at all of them, "Well that settles it. We're all fucked."

A smile began creeping on the aliens face. With gratitude, he looked every one of them in the eye as he said, "Thank you guys, so much. If you're absolutely sure, there is a little something you could do for me."

His thumb hooked over towards the windshield, out at the signs on top of the shop outside: FIREWORKS. "It would really help…to signal that I'm ready to be picked up." Paul shrugged. Amanda pursed her lips and nodded. She nudged Clive.

"You heard the alien." she laughed, trying not to sound pushy.

Graeme and Clive shrugged in unison and told them not to get too close to the windows. One, because they were on the run, two, because of Paul in general, and three, because Amanda was naked and would probably be arrested for indecent exposure. Ruth just laughed and popped a squat next to Amanda at the table, Paul sitting across from them.

Amanda tapped her fingers on the table and eyed Ruth. "How do you feel about your dad chasing you?…Us?" she added at the end, trying to make it plural. Ruth just shrugged and stared out the window.

"It makes him look pretty cock-butt crazy, but I guess I could find it endearing. Like…he cares about me." She estimated. Paul nodded and leaned back in the seat, not minding her odd swearing. Amanda scrunched up her nose again.

Paul pointed at her, "You do that a lot." Amanda looked at him and blinked, "Do what?"

"You scrunch up your nose. Like it's your initial reaction to everything." He chuckled. Ruth smirked and nodded, "He's right, you do."

She shrugged, "I guess it's just what I learned. My grandma does that a lot, so I must've picked it up from her."

They all fell silent, not knowing what to talk about now. Amanda tapped her feet and sighed, which set off Paul.

"So who was that girl you bumped into?" he asked loudly. She looked at him again and blinked. She shifted in her seat.

Caitlin. Her cousin. Oh if she ever got home, she would hear exactly what she had done, but through the eyes of Caitlin. Which means Caitlin would've described Amanda running through the streets naked with an alien, as Amanda running through the streets naked, painted in tribal colors, with an "illegal" alien, smoking pot, while carrying the aliens prized cock fighting Rooster. Because that's how Caitlin's stories always panned out. But why was Caitlin randomly there? In that random town when she should've been in Moorcroft, helping prepare for Amanda's birthday. Amanda had thought that angrily at first until she remembered that she was also busy and not very present on Caitlin's birthday the day before, so she shouldn't be talking.

With a heavy heart, Amanda slumped her shoulders and picked at her nails, "That was…my cousin, Caitlin." She muttered. Paul quirked a brow.

"You're cousin? What was your cousin doing there?"

"Well my family lives close by, so I shouldn't be surprised. But usually she'd be out with my aunt and uncle, returning gifts." She shrugged.

"Returning gifts, why?" Ruth asked.

"Cause her birthday was yesterday and I missed it." Paul and Ruth sucked in a breath through their teeth, sounding like snakes, cringing. She nodded.

"So that's why she looked so pissed." Paul finally laughed.

Still picking at her nails, Amanda just widened her eyes and nodded. They all stared out the window in time to see Clive and Graeme burst out of the shop carrying a large bazooka type firework.

"Oh look, they're running." Paul said amused.

"Holy shit—GET THE DOOR." Ruth ordered, slipping out of the table chairs faster than Amanda could even think about it. Paul swore under his breath, "Can you drive this thing?"

"I've been driving these things my whole life." Ruth laughed, jumping into the drivers seat. Paul rushed to the door and pushed it open in time to let them in. Amanda stood up and grabbed the fireworks from them so they could fall onto the couch.

Paul shook his head, "Graceful."

Ruth sped off, leaving a trail of dust behind them. Amanda read the label of the Fireworks: The Five Tones. She'd probably get the reference if she didn't care that they had shoplifted. But she almost stole clothes earlier that day. Stealing expensive fireworks was more rewarding.

"I think…it's a good time…to have…quiet time…" Graeme panted, sitting down on the floor. Paul nodded and trudge over to the passenger seat.

"It's okay, we're nearly there." He muttered, looking determinedly out the window.

Amanda sat back down at the table, setting the Fireworks down in front of her. She couldn't wait to be in Moorcroft soon. Paul was almost going to be dropped off, and then she could get home. The thought of going home made her excited, but actually recognizing the fact that Paul was leaving right before she herself went home put a damper on her spirits. He was leaving the planet. He wasn't down the street, or in the next town, he was leaving the planet.

Their friendship had it's highs and lows, and it had just started a new chapter where they always got along and seemed more close. And yet something wasn't complete. Something didn't seem finished about their friendship, like they hadn't matured into a real friendship. Just a friendship where they talk when they're around each other, but don't ever talk otherwise. They could've had a connection that made them closer, but they hadn't found it yet.

With him being an alien, she felt like it just wasn't simply a love of some book series, or the same favorite color. It needed to be something deeper.

"See. Now we're almost there." Paul said. Graeme and Clive stood up and stood between the seats, blocking Amanda's view.

"This is where we've been heading?" Clive asked, unsatisfied.

Paul shook his head, from what Amanda could see. "No," he muttered, "I—I just need to make a little stop first, okay?"

For the first time ever, Graeme sounded irritated when he said, "Do you really think we have time for little stops, Paul?"

Calmly, Paul answered, "this is just something…I really have to do."

Amanda scrunched up her nose, she had even caught herself, for the first time, and stood up. The apology.

"Are you going to apologize?" she asked. Paul barely looked over his shoulder and smirked, "Yeah. This is the real apology."

Sufficiently satisfied, she sat back down. From what she caught out the windows, they could easily be close to Moorcroft. She could walk down the road to the little town and find her home. And some clothes. And a birthday dinner. But they were in this together, for Paul. She wasn't going to try and abandon them again.

"This is good, stop here. This is close enough." Paul said suddenly. The RV came to a stop.

Before the brakes could stop squeaking, Paul began to groan. Like he was nervous. Everyone stayed silent. She saw Graeme shift and his arm point towards the window. "Well, shouldn't we park a bit closer?"

Amanda stood up for a second time and began to tip-toe forward. How far had he made them stop from where he needed to go and apologize? She walked up and stared right over Graeme's shoulder and Paul's head at a medium sized white house surrounded by yellow fields. The little house was beautiful and quaint, very hospitable. The person living there had a lot of time on her hands; and a lot of little hands to help fix it up.

"No. We don't want to scare her." Paul said quietly, as if speaking to a sad little child.

It was Amanda's grandma's house.

The sight of it, them being parked in front of it in general made Amanda's mouth drop open. Paul was going to apologize to her Grandma Tara? Why would he need to apologize, he's been locked up for almost half a decade. Her eyes were drawn to a specific spot, where her Grandma Tara had led her, right off to the side of the house, out towards the middle of the field. She would tug on Amanda's hand and pull her up a big mound and point at the rest of the ground around it. In a light voice, she would say, "This is where it happened. This is where I saved an alien. I was your age when it happened." Amanda always believed her. Growing up where she was, she was surprised she was the only one. Caitlin believed her for a second, and then just didn't give a damn.

So, that means, Paul was the alien her Grandma found? Why had she never mentioned a name! Paul was her dog's name at the time, of course, but she never said that that was what she named the alien. She didn't even say that she had named it! Amanda shook her head and adjusted her glasses, trying to think about all of this. Paul had crash landed in her Grandma Tara's yard, and then left everyone to think she was crazy. She ranted to Amanda about how no one believed that she had saved an alien.

It was a damn good thing that Paul was apologizing.

Without giving Amanda a second glance, they all stood up and filed out of the RV, and walked in a group over to Grandma Tara's front porch. Amanda was too busy staring speechless at this home she had practically grown up in, hearing stories of one special alien—and that special alien had violated her and teased her and made her uncomfortable and—and made her witness miracles, and made her open, and made her feel safe, and made her all new friendships.

This was certainly a deeper connection that Amanda wasn't expecting at all. Not in the slightest.

Once she was able to blink out of her trance, she was overcome with emotions. Her Grandma Tara wasn't crazy. And she was right there for her to see, on her birthday. It was her family. And Paul was apologizing of all things, to her Grandmother who always seemed so torn apart by the opinions of others.

And none of them were even doing anything. Just standing there, not moving. She inhaled deeply a few times and bravely puffed out her chest. Forgetting that she had no shoes, she speed walked to the door, slammed it shut behind her, and then trekked down the dirty gravel road to the front porch, where Graeme and Clive were trying to talk to someone inside. Ruth was the only one to notice Amanda, whose face was bright red from either holding her breath or pure anticipation, stomp up the steps.

The door slammed, just as Amanda stopped behind the two shy gentlemen, and then the door was pulled open.

"What is this, some kind of a joke?" her Grandma growled, her usual kind face distorted in pure disgust at the two of them. They must have already mentioned Paul. Amanda exhaled a long held in breath once she saw her.

That exhale included a very breathy pronunciation of, "Grandma."

Graeme, Clive, and Paul turned and looked at her, "Grandma?"

Grandma Tara's eyes slowly brightened and the door flew open, "Mandy?"

Holding back a squeal of excitement, Amanda rushed around Graeme and Clive and wrapped her arms tightly around her Grandmother. Out of all of her family, she wished she had seen Grandma Tara first, not Caitlin.

"Mandy, sweetheart! Oh goodness, you're home!" Tara laughed in relief, swaying back and forth. Amanda nodded against her shoulder and allowed Tara to hold her out in front of her shoulder length.

"You've gotten so tall! Happy Birthday, my dear!"

"Birthday?" she heard Graeme and Clive mutter confused.

"Thank you Grandma!" she winced. Grandma Tara looked her up and down, "And you're in your birthday suit!" she laughed, causing Amanda to nod and raise her brows as high as they could go.

"I know, right? It's so ironic!" she realized.

They both began to laugh and Tara pulled her into a bone crushing hug. Tara suddenly stopped laughing and whispered in her ear, "Why are you with these men? They told me they are with the alien I told you about."

Amanda sucked in a breath and pulled out of the hug, pushing hair behind her ear. Time for the big reveal. "Grandma they—they gave me a ride up here. And they're telling the truth." She quietly shrugged, stepping out of the way. Clive and Graeme parted like the Red Sea to reveal a meek Paul.

"Hey Tara." He waved.

She gasped, "You."

Immediately, Tara wrapped her lanky fingers around Amanda's arm and pulled her into the house, ordering her to go upstairs and change. Extra clothes were already stored in the dresser in the guest room. Granted, what she found was little girls clothes that could pass off as really short dresses on her, but it was better than no clothes. Quietly and uncertainly, she clipped on a flowy pink dress covered in large hot pink roses and small blue flowers. She found a brown belt that must've been left there from someone else, with a matching brown vest. From her Grandma's room she grabbed a pair of worn out sandals that would stay on her feet better.

She descended the stairs carefully, afraid of the sight she might find. A glaring contest or a "don't-look-anyone-in-the-eye" contest. Either way it would be awkward. She reached the bottom of the stairs to find a glaring contest. Nobody moved whatsoever.

Staring at Paul, seeing absolute guilt, just as always, she raised her hand, "I'll make some tea."

Everyone turned to her and her Grandma stood up, "I can do it." Paul stared at Amanda extra hard. She didn't want to look at him, but she could tell it wasn't one of his devilish smile stares. He was trying to read her or something. Like why she never mentioned her Grandma was Tara. Her excuse was that she didn't know.

Despite her Grandma's offer, she rushed over to the kitchen, feeling Paul's eyes follow her. After that, his footsteps followed. Her grandma had pulled out the rusty old tea pot, and began fiddling with matches, already turning on the gas burner to try and light it. Amanda touched her shoulder and pulled her own hair away from the burner so she could look her Grandma in the eye.

"Talk to him." She whispered, hearing Paul enter the kitchen.

Paul dropped his backpack, "Uh, look, Tara—I—" he began, but Tara whipped her head around and glared, angrily flicking a lit match about.

"I only just stopped believing in you, you know. I spent a very long time trying to convince folks about what happened that night." She growled. She gestured to Amanda, "Mandy being the only one to really believe me…because everyone thought I was _mad_!"

Amanda pressed her lips together and finally looked at Paul, who's eyes looked like they were glistening. Amanda felt bad for this sudden guilt trip, even though she knew he needed and wanted to apologize; but it was all coming at him at once. Pound after pound of guilt about everything.

"They told me it was a meteor that squashed little Paul. And they took me away…and they did tests…said it was for cosmic radiation, said I was c—c—concussed. Hallucinating—but I knew you were real! I pulled you from that spaceship myself!" she ranted, sounding like she was at her breaking point, reliving the memories. All of it made everyone cringe.

"I pulled you from that spaceship myself. I kept you warm and comfortable, I sat with you until the men came to take you away." Tara muttered, leaning on the table. Amanda stared at the floor, knowing Paul was trying not to do the same.

"Pop tried to understand, but, he would just smile and say 'there, there Tara'. And well, word got out about my story, and kids used to come out and throw stones at the house. Call me names. And I just hid myself away." She said ashamed, looking over at Amanda.

Amanda looked up at her grief stricken Grandma Tara and tried to smile. Tara held out her hand and Amanda took it, allowing her to pull her into a hug. "I would spend whole nights up there, staring at the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of you."

Wandering eyes led Paul's gaze to Amanda, right as Tara blew out the match and muttered, "And here you are." Amanda smiled at him, he tried to smirk in return. Tara placed the match in a tea cup. "And the best thing is…is that the one person who believed in me brought you back." Tara muttered, more to herself than Paul, looking at Amanda and stroking her cheek gingerly. Amanda smiled and looked over at Paul, who sighed.

"I—I'm sorry, you know, if I coulda done it any other way, I—"

Tara reached out, "It's okay."

Gently, she began stroking Paul's head, "You're real. That's all that matters."

A spark in Paul's eyes went off and he smiled. Amanda couldn't help but smile too. Guilt was no longer evident on any part of him. And he wasn't feeling just happiness now. It was love. He really, truly cared about Tara. And that was satisfying enough to know in general. Double closure besides knowing Paul was real and that her Grandma wasn't crazy.

"I was right! And all those folks that thought I was crazy…well they can all just go fuck themselves." To that, both Paul and Amanda chuckled.

Seeing Paul, and her Grandma, finally happy, Amanda slipped her arms away from her Grandma's waist. She turned to look at Clive, Graeme and Ruth all sitting on the couch. Paul began to talk with Tara, giving her something from his backpack, while Amanda just walked out into the living room, standing before the three people who looked at her like she was a stranger.

She played with her fingers, "So…you guys probably have some questions."

Clive nodded, "Yeah."

"Maybe—" Graeme added.

"Kind of."

"—Definitely."

Amanda shut her eyes and laughed, finding their comedic timing perfect. She looked over at Tara and Paul and smiled.

"She's your Grandmother?"

She turned to look at Graeme, "Illegitimate." She answered quietly, trying to keep the noise level down.

Ruth lifted her upper lip in confusion. Amanda sighed, "We're not related by blood, or marriage. When I was growing up, my mom noticed that she lived here alone—having no friends or family or anything. My mom said Grandma would appreciate it if I went over and visited every once in a while. Granted, it took me a while to convince her to let me in—and she eventually gave in because of my being a child—but I don't regret coming here and visiting and talking to her. She became my Grandma Tara." She shrugged, smiling to herself.

They all looked over at Tara and Paul. "And now finding out that Paul was the alien she always told me about…it really makes me want to sing It's A Small World."

Graeme and Clive smirked, "It's a small universe." Ruth smiled, "she's taking this better than we thought she would."

Amanda nodded, "It's easier for her to know that at least one person, in spite of that person being a child growing into her teens and twenties, believing her. Made the voyage to this moment much more…pleasant to handle."

They all made a noise in agreement. Looking towards Amanda, wringing his hands, Graeme smiled, "Amanda." She turned to look at them.

"Happy Birthday." He nodded, a sweet smile still rooted on his face. Clive and Ruth began to smile as well, "Happy Birthday." They repeated.

_These people_… she thought, grinning. She felt like this was a good moment to cry tears of joy, but she didn't. These people were in the same group as Tara. They were officially her illegitimate family. She had said she was leaving them, she had gotten angry at them, she had gotten them all in trouble with red necks that had nothing to do with the situation at hand, and yet they would smile at her, and forgive her, or help her, or wish her a Happy Birthday, even though they know she lied about it. They were, unconditionally, caring about her.

"Thank you." She whispered, looking each of them in the eye.

The doorbell rang, catching everyone's attention. Everyone grew silent. No one moved. Tara stood up straight and hmphed. "I wonder who that could be."

Approaching the door, the window she had been standing in front of shattered, and a can bursting with black smoke rolled across the floor. Everyone yelped and stood up, Amanda attempting to walk towards it, "Where did that come from!"

"Holy shit, it's them!" Paul yelled, staring out the window, starting to push Amanda away. The doorbell rang again, immediately followed by a gun shot and a yelp.

Just outside the door, an angry voice called out to someone who was coughing madly. Amanda rushed to the door and just stuck her ear to it, just to listen. It was one of the agents she remembered from the town before, and a new one. Someone who sounded like they meant more business.

"GO, GO!" Paul yelled as the window shattered some more. The small agent in a gas mask poked his head in, and all of the coughing residents of the house rushed to Amanda's side by the door. They closed an extra set of doors behind them to protect them from the smoke.

Paul reached up and pushed Amanda out of the way, "Hey!" she gasped.

"Sorry! Excuse me—by the way, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do!" Paul replied, pointing at her before pulling the door open.

"ME?" she shrieked as they all stared at the back of an agent in all black. Paul tackled him further onto the porch, the two of them grunting and yelling. Tara gasped at the sight and Graeme did his best to keep everyone inside the doorway.

After 30 seconds of struggling the two of them fell to the porch, panting wildly, Paul sounding like he was having heart palpitations, or trouble breathing. Clive pushed past Graeme and scooped Paul up bridal style, only to get a gun in the face.

"FREEZE MOTHA FUCKA." The agent, Haggard, yelled.

"Gimme the alien—gim—gimme the FUCKING alien!" the agent commanded, advancing towards Clive. He could only back up into the house. Clive protested and then smacked Paul's head against the doorframe. Amanda cringed.

"Give me, the alien!" the agent yelled again.

"—GET YOUR OWN ALIEN." Clive said desperately. Amanda gasped as the agent lifted up his gun and began screaming madly, looking ready to pull the trigger. But, with a swing that Amanda didn't even see coming, Graeme smacked the agent in the face with one of her Grandma's clocks.

Like a klutz, the agent fell backwards over the other one and into the dirt. Ruth and Amanda shouted in triumph before taking Tara by the hand and dragging her out the door behind Graeme and Clive. Paul moaned.

"Oh—is Tara with us?" he called.

"I got her Paul!" Amanda called back, letting Ruth rush ahead.

"Oh man balls, it's my dad!" Ruth suddenly shouted, and Amanda looked over her shoulder to see the truck. Her Grandma tightened her grip on her, carrying a teddy bear in the other hand.

"Oh God!" Amanda groaned.

"Who's that?" Tara asked, looking back at the truck, which had stopped.

"Not anyone you wanna know!" Amanda answered, her voice almost raising an octave when gun shots were fired in their direction.

None of them even cared who it had came from, they just wanted to get away as soon as possible. Tara even sped up when she heard the gun shot. Ruth and her dad began yelling to one another and Amanda and Tara kept looking over their shoulders, just to keep track of where everyone was. Amanda could hardly hear anything anymore, her heart was pounding in her ears.

"Why the fuck didn't we park closer!" Amanda screamed at the top of her lungs, despite being out of breath.

Finally, Amanda and Tara caught up with the rest of them and were close to all gathering in the RV when the unthinkable happened.

An explosion blasted wood and people in every direction. From their distance they just fell back against the RV, only to gaze back and see Tara's house flying in every direction from a large, orange mushroom cloud. Amanda and Tara just stared in agony at the wrecked home that rained down upon the fields around them.

Ruth began yelling, calling out her dads name, running towards the blast, Graeme in pursuit of her. Amanda was close to screaming at her, but when she got the chance, Ruth had already turned around and was signaling for them to start the RV and go. Tightening her grip, Amanda thrusted Tara into the RV, right after Clive set Paul down on the couch.

The RV started up and she spun around to see Ruth was not too far. Amanda waved her hands around, "Come on, hurry!" she yelled. Graeme on the other hand was pretty far behind.

"God damn it." Amanda grumbled. At full sprint, she sped past Ruth to Graeme who was limping. The moment she grabbed his arm to pull him along faster, not even slowing down, a bullet lodged itself into the ground by their feet.

Screaming bloody murder, Amanda stumbled forward while Graeme flew to the side. With all her courage, panting like a mad man, she pulled him to his feet and they were off again. If she didn't feel like they were about to die, Amanda would've called this an ideal thing to do when you hang out with friends. She would've felt like a kid again. And, like a kid, Amanda easily hurled herself into the RV.

"Don't leave me!" she heard Graeme yell. She spun around and crossed her fingers, seeing that Graeme still hadn't gotten inside yet. She set her footing, so she could stand at the ready to help. But she didn't need to. Clive pulled him in just in time, smiling and giving him a faithful "Never."

Amanda let out a deep sigh and bent over them. Ruth knelt beside them, Tara peering over her shoulder, "Graeme you scared the shit out of me."

Happily, Graeme smiled. But Clive stared at her like she was a ghost, "Ruth why aren't you driving?"

Everyone turned to look at the drivers seat and saw Paul, who looked over his shoulder proudly. "See? I told you it was easy!"

"Paul look ouuuuuut!" Amanda screamed, pointing out the windshield at Tara's windmill coming straight at them. In unison, everyone else began screaming as they crashed into it and Paul began swerving all over the place. Paul was even screaming; about roads, about small corrections, about how easy it was.

Amanda had shut her eyes tightly, prepared for the RV to just flip over. In no time, though, everything smoothed out, and she was glad to open her eyes and find them back on the road. A deep sigh was shared between everyone and Amanda stood up straight, walking up next to his seat.

She reached down and smacked him, receiving a growl in response.

"Hey!"

"What were you thinking? You could've gotten us killed!"

He laughed, staring at her devilishly, his grin prominent.

"Babe, trust me, I would never let you die."


	11. A Display, and A Good Guy

**I'm on a roll.**

**I love it.**

**Read & _REVIEW_**

"I really hope we've finally lost them." Ruth sighed nervously, occasionally looking over her shoulder to look out the very back window of the RV. Amanda and Tara proceeded to stand behind the drivers seat.

"With all the personalities after us, I don't think they'll ever stop." Amanda muttered. Graeme leaned in between the seats, setting his hands down on either armrest. He glared out the window, looking like he was contemplating to kill.

Tara leaned in to Amanda's ear and whispered, "Why are these people chasing you? They want Paul?" she asked. Amanda looked at her and nodded.

"They want to cut out his brain." She whispered back, saying it like she was breaking the bad news to someone with a dying loved one in the hospital. Her grandmother only gasped and looked down at the back of Paul's head.

She reached down and placed her hand flat on his head, "We won't let them get you Paul."

Amanda could barely see Paul smile, "Thank you Tara."

"I think we _did_ lose them." Ruth said, looking over her shoulder again. Paul's eyes darted to the side view mirror, shaking his head.

"Shit, shit!" he hissed. Amanda looked in the rearview mirror and saw a black, government issued car. It was gaining on them, pulling up right alongside them. Tara gripped harshly onto the back of the seat, crouching down behind it, peeking over the top. Amanda was in the right mind to grab onto Graeme's shoulder, and then use her other hand to squeeze the back of the drivers seat, but she just planted her feet firmly on the ground.

The screeching of tires made Paul keep looking over, as everyone was able to see the small black car out the window. Agent Haggard was shifting around in his car, swerving everywhere, trying to get a good look of Paul and the others. Paul gasped, "He's trying to overtake us!"

"Don't let him get past!" Amanda advised, trying to keep looking out the window.

"Alright." Paul grunted. Clive twisted in his seat to look at Graeme, "What about the deposit?"

"Fuck the deposit!" he answered, leaping forward and taking the wheel.

With a bang and a jolt, the RV shot to the left and they smacked into the car. The car's tires squealed again and he pulled off the road so he wouldn't run into a sign. The RV sped past as the little black car did it's best to get back on the road beside him, only to end up behind the big, hulky RV. The car caught up and everyone stared out at him.

Paul jerked the wheel and smashed into the car again, trying to slowly push it off the road. They stayed neck-in-neck, side-to-side for a while, Paul on the wrong side of the road, and the agent's car off in the grass. Amanda leaned over the top of the seat to get a better view. The agent didn't give up, an evil grin begin to flash onto his face. He lifted his arm and pointed his gun at them.

"Aw, fuck, come on!" Paul whined as Amanda gasped and backed away from the window.

"Smile you son of a bitch!" the agent growled.

So, just like the agent told him to, Paul smiled. He also lifted a finger and pointed forward, "Eyes forward, butt horn."

A scream erupted from the little black car and Amanda shut her eyes as she heard the crash and whistle of the car flying through a barricade and over the edge into Lytle Creek. The RV was already halfway across the bridge when Ruth asked, "Do you think he'll be okay?"

Paul smirked, "Yeah, he'll be fine."

Everyone pretty much believed him, no one noticing him suddenly whimper after looking into the side view mirror.

The sun was beginning to set when they had all agreed that no one was following them, and if they were, they would have no idea where the RV could be going. Amanda led Tara back to the couch and sat her down, and Ruth fell onto the recliner tiredly. She stared between the two newcomers. One whose house was blown up and life before that had been ruined by ridicule because of Paul, and another whose faith was shaken by Paul. But they stayed, even through shit like what had just happened.

Amanda quietly exhaled and walked up between the seats with Graeme. She stared out at the colorful sky. The same blood orange, the same brown mountains, the same blue and purple hews, strewn with white specks. She smiled and kept her eyes forward.

"Now I think is the time for me to take you to the pick up spot." Paul muttered, smirking to himself.

Clive nodded, staring out the window. Graeme dropped his eyes to the floor, looking melancholy about what he had said. Amanda patted his shoulder, just staring out at the sky. She sighed and looked between the three of them.

"Can I be honest?" she asked.

Clive and Graeme looked at her. She smiled, "I didn't really think we'd get this far."

Clive snorted, "Why not? We've been a pretty well-oiled machine thus far."

She looked down at him and quirked a brow, "Have you seen us? For a 'well-oiled machine', we're really dysfunctional."

"No quest is easy." Graeme shrugged.

"True." Amanda smiled, pointing at him. "But think about it. We're like the island of misfit toys right now. Graeme and Clive are anti-social comic writers, my Grandma is considered crazy, Ruth is a former devout Christian, I'm a kidnapee and Paul's an alien."

Clive chuckled, "I see what you're saying."

"In all this commotion, we've been shot at, chased, almost crashed a few times, I've changed my last name, like—twice! No one I know would allow that to happen!" Which was true. Her real last name was Nixon, but at one point she changed it to Nelson. She had forgotten her last name when she had come up with it. Paul snorted and shifted in his seat.

"And yet you're the best friends I have ever had." Amanda muttered, staring out into the sky sullenly.

With puppy dog eyes, both Graeme and Clive looked at her. She shook her head and corrected her statement, "You're the best fake family I have ever had. I love you guys."

Paul's hand peeled off from the wheel and held itself up in front of her. Confused, she looked down at it and took it. He squeezed her hand and sighed, "We love you too, babe." Graeme took her other hand in his and they smiled at each other. Once they peeled off into some wooded areas with winding roads, Paul let go of Amanda's hand.

When it got extremely dark, they all began to feel like they could see smoke rising from the front of the RV. Paul pulled off to the side and they all filed out of the RV to inspect it. Clive pulled open the front panel and let out a cloud of smoke, staring inside. Amanda leaned against the RV.

"Fair thee well my friend. You were a faithful and mighty steed." Clive sighed. Ruth waved smoke out of her face and Graeme shook his head, "I can't believe she's gone."

"Ain't that a bag of tits." Ruth said in disappointment. Amanda laughed and looked out across the road. Tara shook her head.

"Oh, what do we do now Paul?" No answer. "Paul? Paul!" she called.

Up ahead, they saw him trudging up a hill with his back pack. Amanda pushed off the RV and furrowed her brows, "Paul! Where are you going?"

When he didn't answer, Graeme formed a line with Clive and Amanda to follow him. They made it to the top and they all gasped, seeing Devil's Tower straight ahead of them. Grins all began to spread across their chins and Graeme chuckled in amazement.

"See? Told you guys you'd know it once you saw it."

Clive began to laugh and he and Graeme said in unison, "Of course."

Amanda helped Ruth and Tara trump through the woods to get to a large field next to the tower while Graeme retrieved the fireworks and some flashlights. Clive and Graeme headed out towards the middle of the field right when clouds started appearing over them, turning the sky a gray blue. Amanda crossed her arms and shivered, following Paul out a little ways when he decided to head out to see what's taking so long.

"Do you think they'll see it? And they'll come and get you?"

He shrugged, "They'll be looking for the fireworks around here. So hopefully they will."

She nodded and stopped so she could run back and huddle with Tara and Ruth, preparing for the fireworks. Like maniacs, Graeme, Clive and Paul dropped the fireworks and ran back, Paul laughing the entire time.

"That's not funny, that's dangerous!" Graeme whined as they all spun around to watch the light show.

When the first one went, everyone let out a gasp and an "ooooooh". Every neck was bent so they could look up at the beautiful display above them. In everyone's eyes, the reflection was just of bright bursts of light and glitter, everyone, at one point, smiling stupidly. Paul just smirked and his eyes darted around the sky, like he was searching for his home at that moment.

Carefully, Amanda looked down at him and smiled, "What now?" she asked quietly.

"We wait." He muttered, still entranced by the sky.

They all turned with a shrug and formed a circle to sit, all starting to mingle about random things. Amanda leaned back on her hands and crossed her legs, staring up at the sky. Tara sat on one side of her and Paul on the other, both of them not really talking. Occasionally Tara and Amanda would put their word in, but otherwise Paul stayed quiet. She lolled her head on her shoulder and looked at him, trying to read him.

"Are you excited to go home?" she asked. He looked at her and nodded, "Yeah, actually. A nice change from being stuck in a government facility."

She laughed, wiggling her foot, full of anxiety. Paul looked up at her and nodded towards Tara, "So. She's your grandma, huh?"

Amanda sighed and nodded, "Yes she is. She's my illegitimate Grandma."

Looking confused, Paul squinted at her, "So you guys aren't related."

"Not by blood or marriage, no. I would visit her a lot as a kid, and I just started to call her Grandma." She explained. He stayed quiet, as did she. They sat in awkward silence while the others talked.

She shifted her hands and looked at him, "Why didn't you tell me you had something this important to apologize for?" she asked.

He shrugged, "Why didn't you tell me Tara was your grandma?"

She threw her head back and snorted, "Right. Like I was supposed to say, 'Oh hey, my Grandma might know you, her name is Tara'."

"It would've been informative, and much appreciated." He joked, laughing wildly. He shook his head, "Nah I'm kidding. I just thought the reason I was apologizing was something to keep private. I thought she would've been ridiculed and alone…so I didn't want to add fuel to the fire, you know?" he shrugged.

Nodding, she glanced at Tara, "I know."

"But she had you. She had you to believe in her, and in me, and that's better than anything I could ask for." He smiled. She chuckled and looked up at the sky.

"I guess this is where we leave the relationship then, isn't it?" Paul suddenly asked. She whipped her head around and stared at him. "What?" she asked quickly.

He shrugged, "Our friendship? We've been on good terms for what, a whole day now? Now I have to go home. It's like hanging out with a really cute dog at a store that you grow really attached to and then you have to leave it behind."

"Are you calling me a dog?" she asked.

"No! Well—maybe—but a really cute dog! Like a Pomeranian." He said, trying to cover for himself. She laughed and shook her head, "I know what you mean, don't worry."

He sighed with relief and placed a hand over his heart, "Oh good. I was worried for a second there."

She laughed and wiggled her feet around again. Looking up at the sky, she wondered when they would come. If they did, that would be the end of it. The end of the journey. She would have to leave Graeme and Clive and Ruth, and Paul would be gone. Leaving things the way they were, feeling so incomplete, would just be inappropriate. Paul going home is the cherry on top of that sundae. Even if anything got said, though, it would feel like everyone had kept their mouths shut.

Sucking in a deep breath, she leaned forward, right as he did, "I don't want you to leave—"

"I want you to come with me—"

"What?" she gasped.

"What?" he replied just as fast, looking around awkwardly.

"You—you want me to go with you?"

"Nevermind, forget I said anything." He said, shaking his head and looking away.

For a moment, she couldn't contemplate what he had just asked her. To go with him to his planet? And do what? She still had a life here, and a family. Her eyes were drawn to Tara who smiled happily with Graeme, Clive and Ruth. She shifted and looked at Paul.

"Take my Grandma." She said.

He turned to her, "What?"

"Take Tara with you." She insisted.

Paul looked over her shoulder and pressed his lips together. Without saying anything, he just nodded and leaned on his knees. She smiled and also nodded. They stayed silent some more until Paul looked at her and smirked, "You don't want me to leave, huh?"

She peered up at him and tried not to smile, "Well, yeah. You've changed how all of us see things. You've become one of my friends. It's not like I'm just going to watch you leave without at least feeling like I don't want you to go."

"Do you just feel like that because I just happen to be leaving, or do you feel like that because you mean it?" he asked quietly, gazing deep into her eyes.

Nervously, she twitched, not knowing what to say. She hadn't thought about that. But her silence must've indicated to him that she didn't know how to answer, because he skipped the question.

"You've changed how I see things too, you know. _I_ don't really know how…but hey it sounds sentimental, so I thought I'd give it a whack." He shrugged. She couldn't help but laugh. He leaned back on his hands, one of them accidentally placing itself on hers.

Neither of them budged. A spark flew between their hands and Paul did his best not to flinch too much at the feelings. Amanda just smirked and peeked over at him. A gust of wind blew by and she sat up straight, taking her hand away from his. He looked disappointedly at his hand. She rubbed her arms ferociously and shivered.

"I'll be right back, I'm gonna go snag a blanket from the RV." She muttered, smiling at him. She jumped up and snatched up a flashlight, flicking it on.

Trying to get some heat, she ran across the field and into the forest, pointing the flashlight in front of her. She prayed to a higher being that she could remember the way there. It wasn't too hard. From ahead, she heard crunching noises. She froze and sucked in a breath, thinking immediately it was a bear. She looked around both ways and started going around trees, weaving in an out of them, like she was trying to lose it.

When she ran around one tree, she was blinded with a bright light. She gasped and shielded the light with her hand, squinting. The angry, almost red looking eyes of a man in black glared at her over the barrel of a large sniper rifle. Her eyes widened and her jaw clenched.

"You," she hissed. "You're from the farm house."

"Correct, ma'am. Now turn your ass around and take me to the alien." He ordered, his voice firm. She shook her head and took a step away.

"Not on your life." She growled. She heard a click and the gun was pressed against her gut.

"Then how about yours?" he asked, poking her so she would turn around. Trying not to throw up, she turned around slowly and allowed him to grab her shoulder and hold on tight. He pushed her through the forest, his gun pointing up to the sky, cocked and ready.

_How could this have even happened_? She growled inwardly, tripping and stumbling a few times. _It must've been the damn fireworks_.

"Come on, pick up the pace." He ordered.

"I'm trying." She hissed back. He pushed her again and let go of her shoulder so he could run up behind her. She followed his lead and also ran, even after he sped right past her. She wasn't going to let him get there first.

A distant humming sound caught both of their attentions. She smiled, "They're here!" That meant that Paul could get away.

The agent didn't say anything and they kept running along. She reached out to grab his arm, but it didn't work, "I'm not going to let you hurt him! Not when he's so close!" she growled.

"I'm not going to hurt him!" he snapped right back.

"Says the man with a gun!" she barked, trying to speed up and catch up with him. He pushed his way under a branch and came to a screeching halt next to a tree. Amanda smashed right into him but he paid no heed.

They squinted through the trees and saw bright orange lights hovering through the cracks in the branches and tree line. Amanda smiled again, "I told you they were here."

The agent just shook his head, "No…no that's not them." He muttered. She gave him an odd look as he mumbled, "oh no you don't. Come on!" he yelled to her before racing off.

"What?" she yelled, setting off at a sprint after him, both of them maneuvering about the trees. What the hell was this guys deal? He said he wasn't going to hurt Paul, and he says that the lights on the spaceship aren't the lights of a spaceship. What else could it be?

She finally caught up to him and looked at his profile. He looked like a good enough guy, yet he was running around with a rifle, preparing to shoot something. He claimed it wasn't Paul. Was he a good guy or a bad guy? Good cop, or a bad cop?

"Stay where you are, you little green bastard!" a female voice angrily called from the intercom.

The agent swore under his breath, "Fuck, she's here! Hurry!" he demanded. Miraculously, they were both able to pick up their speed.

"Who's she?" she yelled just as they burst through the tree line. They stopped in time to see everyone with there hands up, standing in front of a helicopter. Two armed men stood on either side of a well dressed woman. The woman in charge. The 'she'.

"PAUL!" The agent barked, setting up his gun. Paul spun around and looked at the two of them.

"Zoil? Amanda!"

With no time to lose, the agent shot a bullet and Amanda screamed, prepared to tackle him. But the bullet shot right past Paul and got an armed man right in the knee. Everyone ducked and the armed man fell to the ground screaming. The agent lowered the gun and grabbed Amanda by the arm.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go." He said under his breath with each other of their footsteps, pushing her in front of him. He ran right behind her as bullets hit the ground after every step they had taken. Amanda started to yell and cover her head. She felt a large hand grab hold of her arm and pull her to the ground. In expectation of more gun shots, she covered her head and lay still as the agent barrel rolled next to her and took aim with his gun. He fired another shot and it got another armed man, who Amanda didn't see get hurt. A shot was fired at them and missed, so he shot again and the other man went down.

She heard his heavy footstep indicate that he had stood up to take another shot. One loan gun shot from another gun sent him yelling and toppling right over Amanda's body. She screamed as he lay beside her, rolling around in pain, blood gushing from his shoulder. Bringing her head up to look, she scrambled to her feet to rush around him.

"Agent Zoil!" she gasped, kneeling beside him.

"Don't fucking move." The Woman ordered the others, smoke rising from the end of her gun.

"Agent Zoil." Amanda winced, trying to keep him still. He _was_ a good guy.

"I gotta say, I'm a little hurt, Agent Zoil." The Woman said, glaring at him. Amanda glared right back, trying to figure out what to do about his shoulder.

Zoil sat up, swaying back and forth, "He introduced me to my wife—he's my friend." He cringed.

"You stupid son of a bitch, you could've been where I am in fifteen years." She said, pointing her gun at him. He shook his head, laying on his side, holding his arm.

"I don't want to be where you are." He moaned.

"Too bad, seeing as how I'm the one holding all the cards." She smiled, pointing her gun back at the others. "And by cards, of course, I mean big fucking gun." She growled, showing her gun off to everyone.

Everyone nodded. "That is a pretty big gun." Paul agreed. Zoil looked Amanda in the eye and nodded towards the others, "Go. Stay with them."

Hesitantly, she stood up and tried to figure out how to get to them without this woman pointing her gun at her or even firing it in her direction. The Woman just nodded her head towards Paul.

"Let's go Mork."

"Don't call me Mork." Paul scoffed. Graeme and Clive jumped in front of him, blocking Paul from the Woman. Amanda stepped around Zoil and rushed to their sides. The Woman just laughed at them, looking every one of them in the face.

"No, he's going nowhere." Clive hissed.

Paul shook his head, gathering Ruth and Tara behind him, "Guys you don't have to do this."

The Woman laughed again, "Can it, nerds. Shit I'd shoot you now if I didn't get off on the idea of you being hog-tied and pissed on in Guantanamo Bay." Graeme stepped around Clive.

"They've shut Guantanamo Bay." He said with a sneer, like he had gotten her good.

"Did they?" she asked, looking at him like he was an idiot. Amanda pressed her lips together and pulled him away from her. "Be honest with yourselves. What do you think you can possibly bring to the table at this point in the game?" she asked.

Amanda sighed and shut her eyes, "Shit." She moaned when she saw Clive reaching for the sword that was strapped around him. She hadn't even noticed it until he whispered, "Blind Fury." She had hoped he had had a gun or something useful. He pulled the end of the sword out, only to find it broken off in the sheath.

"Oh." He moaned when everyone gasped. Amanda slapped her forehead and shook her head.

"False economy, I told you." Paul sighed. The Woman stepped towards them.

"Step aside. Fag." She advised.

Weird noises started emitting from Clives mouth and Amanda looked up at him confused. Clive jumped out of Graeme's way and Graeme lunged at the Woman, punching her right in the face. Amanda shrieked and jumped up and down with Paul, who yelled encouraging words.

Over and over again they tried to continue. Graeme tried to punch her a few more times, but only got pistol whipped and punched in the face. Ruth cried out in protest as the woman brought Graeme to his knees. Amanda jumped back and grabbed onto Tara and Ruth who were trying to cheer them on despite their cringing and grimacing.

Clive grabbed the woman's arm beginning to struggle. Like a trooper he held on until Paul tried to charge her. Amanda gasped and tried to lunge after him but Ruth held her back, "Paul!" she shouted. The woman spun around and kicked him right between the legs sending him moaning to the dirt. Clive bit down hard enough on the Woman's arm that Amanda heard a crunch. He let her go and she punched him in the face. He flew backward and slammed into the ground.

Now Amanda had had enough. She pushed away from Ruth and ran at the Woman, pouncing onto her back like a cat. She pulled at the Woman's neck to try and strangle her, "You leave them alone!" she barked.

The Woman erked and then flipped Amanda right over her shoulder, smashing her into the ground. She gasped at the stab of pain that shot up her back and winced, looking over at Paul who panted, staring at her worried.

"Get away from her, you bitch!" they heard Tara scream, and the Woman flew to the ground with a bloody nose. Amanda looked up at her Grandma to see her shaking her hand in pain. She laughed and allowed her Grandma to help her up. They hugged each other tightly.

"Are you okay?" Tara asked her.

"I'm fine, are you?" she asked, grabbing a hold of her shoulders. Tara nodded and looked over at Paul, who was talking to Zoil. He was doing his best to try and stand up. Amanda looked at him concerned and jogged over to his side to help straighten him up.

Paul looked up at him, panting, "Sorry I zapped you back at the farm house."

"That's okay. I'm sorry I wasn't there to meet ya' outside the base, by the time I got there you had already gone." He cringed. She looked between them and smiled at Paul, who playfully smirked back.

Zoil looked up at Amanda and smiled tiredly, then looked up at the others who were approaching, "But it seems you've got a Plan B."

"Did I ever." Paul sighed. "These are my friends."

He began to shake all of their hands, "Pleasure to meet you, you did a hell of a job."

Clive grinned, "Thank you Agent Zoil."

"Please call me Lorenzo." He insisted. Amanda's eyes widened and they peered at him oddly.

"Lorenzo Zoil?" they all said in unison. Amanda had certainly seen _that_ movie too many times to count. Agent Zoil just nodded and tried to look professional. Amanda's face scrunched up and she tried her best not to laugh.

Paul chuckled at the state of her face and smiled up at Zoil.

"RUTH!" a booming voice called from the forest.

In surprise, everyone spun around to see Ruth's dad entering the field. "Papa?" Ruth gasped. With the face of the devil (how ironic), he held up his bible, which held one single bullet. When he felt they had had a good look at it, he replaced it with the barrel of his gun. Everyone gasped and Ruth pushed Paul away.

"Paul!" she shouted.

"Ruth!" Graeme shouted, pushing her away as well.

Everything moved in slow motion. Amanda watched Agent Zoil jump away from it, along with her Grandma; Paul and Ruth stumbled to their respective sides; Graeme just stood there. Gun fire. She shook her head and jumped in front of him.

"NO!" she shouted.

The gun fire echoed throughout the field and birds burst from the trees. Paul and Ruth gasped and looked over at them. Amanda and Graeme just stood there, confused. Amanda looked around at everyone, only noticing the look of sheer distraught on Zoil's face.

"That was close." Graeme muttered. Zoil stared them up and down. Amanda looked back at Graeme, feeling a slight pain in her chest as she moved.

Suddenly, Graeme gasped and fell to his knees, feeling his chest. He was bleeding profusely from gun shot wounds that had hit him. Clive rushed to his side, along with Ruth, shouting his name. He shook his head, "I'm fine, I'm fine." He told them. Zoil came up next to Paul who looked sadly at Graeme. Tara didn't even move.

"Mandy—" she said, reaching out to Amanda.

Before that moment, Amanda had never realized how much of a delayed reaction pain has. She took one step towards Graeme and the heat of a thousand suns went rushing through her chest. She screeched in agony and clutched at her skin and clothing, finding nothing but a massive, bloody hole. Her gun shot wound. Her fatal wound. Graeme looked up at her in surprise and his face went white, "No—" his voice breaking.

Everyone looked to Amanda and their eyes widened. Blood came gushing down her front, pooling on the ground. Amanda looked to Paul, the pain of moving being too much for her; the pain of breathing being too much for her; the pain of looking at Paul's numb expression being too much for her.

"Oh, my." She winced before toppling to the ground, taking short, painful breaths.

Oh the pain.


	12. One Demand, One Goodbye

**I guess this is almost the end you guys!**

**Yup. This is pretty much the last chapter before the epilogue!**

**And I hope the epilogue satisfies you more than this chapter does.**

**It's been…_such_ a great run with all of you, being there for all the chapters, waiting for all the moments.**

**I really couldn't have done this without your support.**

**Enjoy.**

**Read & _REVIEW_**

An ordinary person doesn't normally understand the meaning of real pain. Sure, hundreds of millions of people break their bones, or fracture them, some have to get amputations, and others have to live with pain on a daily basis. But few rarely get shot in their lifetime. That's when you probably experience the most pain. Some admit, there are more painful things than getting shot; but at the proper moment, nothing feels like having lead exploding through your body, invading your bloodstream and killing you slowly. And the idea of being shot brings up the expectations of pains, and the emotions one might feel.

When someone's shot, they feel every single thing they can feel. Mainly regret. But the regretting comes when they stop breathing. Before that they feel nothing but pain and emptiness, like everything inside is draining through all the holes in their body. They just don't want to feel, but they need to get it out. Screaming, cursing, groaning, moaning, panting, hissing. They're expressing pure pain.

After they finish, they cry, and they beg, and they stare into the faces of those who don't want to see them go. They stare at their reflection in everyone's eyes, and see someone who doesn't want to go. While they fight it, they die slower, the pain turning into frozen, numb, death. Someone holds their hand, and they try to squeeze it one last time until they can't feel anything with their fingers anymore; they try to shed one last tear until they can't see anymore; they try to say one last thing before they go lack jaw; they try to pump their heart one last time before it just stops.

Amanda wasn't working the same way, though. Sure, she felt like screaming, but she wasn't going to allow herself to. The grass felt so clammy beneath her back and her scalp, the last feeling of grass she thought she'd feel. No wind blew, so she could gather no relief for the sweat appearing on her brow. She struggled to try and sit up, say what Graeme had said, insist she was fine and be taken somewhere to be taken care of. When nothing came out of her mouth except mumbles, she felt the earth move around her. People were kneeling and grabbing at her. With her dampening eyes, she stared up at the faces of Ruth and Clive, who were trying to hold her upper half off the ground.

Her lips parted and she let out a wince as they set her head in Graeme's hands, blood staining his shirt from his own injury. She looked up at all of their faces, getting a last impression, seeing only tears secreting from their eyes. Their expressions seemed to make her die faster on the inside. Ruth's God was no longer apart of her, seeing the true mercy of "Him". Clive didn't know what to think, this girl he had picked up on the road, barely talked with, lying in his arms, dying. Graeme was as lost as a puppy, a sister in a heap in his lap, bleeding to death. He looked like he was choking on his tears.

Their eyes connected and her lungs finally coughed up a trickle of blood as she let out a cry of emotion, her arm flinging out to find his hand so she could squeeze it. Tears seemed to flow faster when she grabbed his hand, and Clive took her other one. In the corner of her eye, she could see her Grandma, and Agent Zoil, standing there in shock. She was glad her Grandma wasn't over here, watching her die first hand. That would've made matters worse.

"Amanda? Amanda?" Graeme begged, trying to get her to listen. She looked at him, right as Paul stood before her. He looked as if his whole planet had been destroyed, or that his people hadn't come for him.

From afar she heard, "I didn't mean to—"

"Drop the gun, Mr. Buggs!" Agent Zoil's desperate voice answered. Her body shifted when Ruth turned to look at her father and cry out, "Drop the fucking gun, dad!"

Graeme sniffled and squeezed her hand as the gun fell to the ground with a clunk. Her wild eyes looked up at her friend, her brother, miraculously through her well-kept glasses. Tears fell down her temples into her ears, her throat attempting to make some noise. Mustering up the courage not to scream or just blatantly start sobbing, she whispered, "No—no—This can't be happening—"

Clive squeezed her other hand, sniffling a bit himself, "This is all my fault—we should've never come on holiday!" But Graeme just shook his head, "That would never make it your fault."

Amanda lolled her head over and looked at Clive, "Don't ever—ever think—that this could be—your fault. It could never—be your—fault." She stuttered, trying to remain serious. Her eyes darted between the three of them.

"If it—if it wasn't for you, I could be dead…in the desert—having been violated and beaten by two stupid—fucking rednecks." She growled through a quiet sob. Graeme sucked in a shaky breath, a tear falling down his cheek.

Carefully, she looked across to Paul, "And look what we've—done—together. Gotten Paul—where he needs—to go." She muttered, clutching each of their hands, and wave of pain rushing through her body. Clive shook his head as she continued, "We've had—some great times."

"Yeah…but you got shot." He replied, holding back some tears.

"Well—I don't regret—anything." She said firmly, the pain starting to wane. Her eyes fluttered for a moment and she lifted her head to look at Paul, "I don't regret anything."

"And neither do we." Graeme muttered quietly brushing a tear off of her forehead. She looked up at him and tried to smile through the taste of iron.

Come to think of it, she was starting to taste nothing. Everything in her vision was going cloudy. The pain was gone. Her breathing was becoming shorter and more sporadic, even as she spoke.

"I can—honestly say—that this is the most fun I have ever—ever had and—"

Sucking in one last breath to finish, to tell them that she loved them, everything stopped. Her mind stopped thinking, her lungs stopped breathing, her hands stopped squeezing, her lips stopped moving, and her heart stopped beating. That last breath was just used to relax her entire body, and mold right into her friend's arms, her dark hair cascading across Graeme's legs, and her pale hands falling limp in theirs.

_I regret not saying 'I Love You' enough. To everyone. Even Caitlin._

"Amanda? Amanda!"

_I regret not tipping more at every restaurant I've ever been to. And not appreciating how nice everyone is to me._

"No. No, why?"

_I regret not telling my true friends that it was my birthday, for fear of being seen as selfish._

"Well, it's worth a shot, right?"

_I regret not looking a certain person—alien—in the eye, and telling him how I felt. Because I don't know how I would've told him. But I regret not getting the chance. _

"Paul, think about this."

_I could've said that I am thankful for being able to know and to have learned so much, and yet understood so little from him. That I could've sat up when I was dying and looked him in the eye and said, I feel something more. We found that underlying deeper connection, that although it had torn up someone important, it brought us together even further. I was able to forgive him and look past the fact that he came from space, and that he doesn't belong here and look at him and think that he's amazing. That he's not completely perfect._

"Come on, Paul."

That he's unabashedly himself.

"Please."

_That he's made me: Uncontrollably._

She felt.

_Irrationally._

She could breath.

_Unconditionally._

Light.

_Love him._

A flash of iridescent blue light danced before her eyes, and her body shot up like a rocket. Her head flew from Graeme's lap, and her hands pulled themselves from their hands, her hair cascading around her face. She pulled her knees up from the ground, and smacked her chest into them. She was alive.

She coughed for air and dug her nails in the soft ground. Someone from behind her grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. "It worked!" Graeme sobbed. Blinking a few times, to make sure she was actually seeing, she reached up and patted his arms. Tara knelt down beside her and hugged her as well, "Oh my dear—I thought I had lost you."

Amanda coughed again, using it to cover some tears she felt coming on. She was glad to be alive. She couldn't believe that had happened. And she was here now. She hadn't even thought about her family when she had died. If she had had more time, she probably would've. But all she had thought about was—

"PAUL!"

Agent Zoil, still clutching his bleeding shoulder, jumped towards Paul, who lay, sprawled out, right in front of Amanda. Tara pulled out of the hug and looked back at Paul, while Amanda and the others sat there frozen. "Paul?" Ruth asked.

Tara stood up and jogged to Paul so she could kneel beside him, clutching her teddy bear. The only way Amanda could react was to shake her head, muttering to herself, "No, no, no."

With all her might, she pushed herself to her knees and crawled over to Paul, scraping her palms, her knees and the tops of her feet to get to him. He must've healed her, and that's how she could be alive. She knelt beside him and pushed hair behind her ear, looking at his bloody chest, the same gaping hole she had engraved into him. Carefully, she tried to reach out to touch him. He looked like a totally different Paul when he lay their like that. His eyes wide and dead, his mouth hanging open, his chest still.

When she had died, she had thought of him. What was he thinking, right at that moment, in his time of death? Before shedding any tears, she shut her eyes, and hoped that he was thinking of her, or Tara, or Graeme, or Clive, or Ruth, or Zoil, and not something stupid like weed or food. She prayed it was of her, though, most of all.

From beside her, a shudder escaped Tara's lips, and Amanda finally muttered, "Paul."

Eyes suddenly dilating and a cough erupted from his throat, Paul sat up and began gagging and coughing. Everyone gasped, and Amanda jumped a bit before placing a hand over her heart, sighing in relief. Of course, he could come back to life. Everyone chuckled in relief, smiling at him as he joked, "Well that sucked."

He looked directly up at her, looking rather sheepish, "I don't even get to eat you."

Pressing her lips together, she started to chuckle, pushing more hair from her face. Agent Zoil uncomfortably laughed, like he wasn't used to laughing with such casual people. Amanda stared at Paul intently.

"Wasn't that really, really dangerous?"

Paul shrugged, gazing at Graeme for a minute, "Sometimes…you just gotta roll the dice."

Graeme, Clive and Amanda began to giggle or snicker, smiling stupidly. Tara touched Amanda's shoulder, than Paul's, smiling and hugging her teddy bear. She stood up and walked over to Graeme, Clive and Ruth. With a sigh, Amanda looked back at Paul, "So…how was it being dead?"

He shrugged, "I could ask you the same thing."

She laughed, hoping that she could gather up the courage to just tell him what she had most been regretting when she had died. All they ever did was banter. And the way he was looking at her, it was the perfect time to tell him her feelings. His eyes examined every detail on her face, looking at her lovingly.

"IT'S, A MIRACLE! AHAHAHA! THE LORD, HAS DELIVERED, HIS HEALING HAND!" Ruth's dad proclaimed behind them, pointing to Paul and Amanda.

Paul smirked and shook his head, looking at Amanda shyly. She looked down at him and smiled, "Thank you…for…bringing me back to life."

Smiling cavalierly, he shrugged nonchalantly, "Thank you for being the first thing I saw when I came back."

Now was the time. _Say it!_ She begged herself. She opened her mouth and Paul gasped, "Look!" he pointed. She looked over her shoulder to see Graeme and Ruth kissing passionately. The sight made her cheeks turn red. Paul leaned back on his elbow and smirked, "What do you know? The geeks will inherit the earth."

"Ahem." A feminine voice grunted from behind them. Paul sat up and Amanda spun around to look at the Woman. Smoothly, Paul stood up and moved in front of Amanda, keeping his ground. The Woman smirked and cocked her gun.

"Well ain't this—"

SMASH

Everyone yelled in surprise when the staircase of a spaceship crushed her into the ground. Paul let out a laugh, "I change my mind. THAT is Jenga." Amanda stared up at the craft, trying not to marvel too much at it. Paul set his hands on his hips and sighed, looking back at his friends.

"They're here." He sang.

He held out his hand and helped Amanda to her feet while alien men who looked exactly like him in jumpsuits rushed out the spaceship. The first thing they did was find all of the shooters from earlier that Agent Zoil had harmed and fixed them right up. Amanda even took one straight to Zoil and got him fixed up while Paul went around and talked to everyone.

"Thank you, for getting him." Zoil sighed, moving his shoulder around, testing it out. Amanda shrugged.

"It's not a problem. Sorry for…not trusting you there for a minute."

He held up his hand and shook his head, "It's all right. I could understand."

"You're a fantastic actor!" Amanda added, trying to compliment him. He just smiled and nodded, thanking her.

"Guys, come over for a picture!" Graeme called, his stomach fixed up just fine. They trudged over to the group, and pulled themselves together, Amanda standing between Graeme and Clive, right behind Paul.

The picture was taken and everyone knew it would last forever. They all parted and Graeme began to show everyone the picture, complimenting each of them. When he showed Amanda the photo, he gave her an extra hug.

Paul said goodbye to Ruth and Mr. Buggs, then said goodbye to Zoil. On his way to the stairs, he passed Amanda. He stopped and looked at her, "you could still come with, like I tried to offer earlier."

She sucked in a breath and shook her head, "I have a whole life to live here. And I think I know someone who deserves to go a lot more than me." She offered, gesturing subtly to Tara who watched him intently. He smiled and continued to walk past Tara. But Amanda knew he'd do the right thing.

Like clockwork, he turned around and looked at the confused Tara, "Oh, you're coming with me."

"Wha?" Tara gasped.

"I ruined your life, Tara. I think it's only right I give you a new one."

Hesitantly, Tara stepped towards the spaceship. She shrugged a muttered, "I don't have my toothbrush."

"Baby, where we're going? You don't need teeth."

He winked at her, and Tara sighed, tears forming in her eyes. Amanda walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. Tara turned to look at her and immediately hugged her. Tightly, they held onto one another, Amanda fighting back tears. "I'm going to miss you Mandy." Tara whispered.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Grandma." She whispered back. "I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart."

They pulled out of the hug, and Tara stroked her cheek one last time before stepping onto the ship. Paul instructed one of his friends to help her in and find her way around, letting them know she was a friend. Graeme even took pictures. Amanda walked up behind Paul, watching Tara, her Grandma prepare to leave earth, Graeme and Clive gathering beside her. Paul turned around and shrugged.

"Gentlemen. Lady."

"I um—" Clive said immediately, "I meant to ask…what did you think of the book?"

Together, the two men looked at him expectantly. Amanda smirked and bit her lip. Paul shifted his backpack on his shoulder, pulling out the book, "Oh I liked it, it was really good actually, I really liked it, it had a lot of good—ideas in it. I kind of found it hard to finish, to be honest."

Clive sadly looked to the ground and nodded, "Yeah. Me too." He actually finished with a chuckle.

"You know, as I always say, you have to spin a great yarn, before you can weave a great dream." Paul said, smiling at them like he should be quoted for the books. Amanda looked at Graeme and Clive, wondering what they'd say, but they both looked shocked. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh let me guess, that's what Adam Shadowchild said?" she mocked, saying his name stupidly. She couldn't even believe she remembered his name. Graeme and Clive nodded, "Yeah."

Paul scoffed, "That asshole! He stole that from me!"

Amanda laughed and Graeme nodded, "He was a bit of an asshole, actually!"

"Yeah he was." Clive muttered monotonously. He shrugged, "you can keep that for the journey home, if you'd like."

"Oh yeah, definitely." Paul nodded, tossing it to an alien who was getting into the ship.

They all smiled to themselves, all of their faces reading that it was pretty much over. Paul shrugged, "Well, it's safe to say that we've all learned something from this." They all nodded. "Be yourself, speak from the heart, some shit like that, I don't know."

Again, they all nodded, Amanda looking at Graeme and Clive, "I certainly feel a bit different." The men agreed with her and they all smiled at Paul.

"Thank you, guys." Paul muttered.

"No, thank you." Clive replied.

"Yeah thanks Paul." Graeme said, biting his lip.

"Thank you for everything." Amanda smiled, feeling like she had said that a million times to him.

"Hugs?" Paul asked. Without hesitation all three of them strode up to him and they hugged him all at one time. Paul nuzzled his head into Graeme and Amanda's shoulders and sighed. They all tightened their eyes shut, the moment beginning to feel unreal.

For a second, Paul stopped breathing and froze. "Clive I can feel your boner."

Bursting into laughter, they pulled out of the hug, and Amanda actually rubbed her eyes, for fear of a tear falling. It was now or never for her, but she didn't want to say anything in front of Graeme or Clive. Paul waved and began to ascend the steps.

"Till next time."

With heavy hearts, Graeme and Clive nodded and began to jog from the ship to get to safety. It was sounding like it was preparing to leave. Amanda shook her head and stepped forward.

"Paul!" she called. He stopped and turned to look at her, his eyes sad.

"I have something to tell you."

He walked down two steps and lifted his hand, "I know what you're gonna say."

She quirked a brow, looking around, "You do?"

"Yeah. And you don't need to say it."

"Well…I think I do." She chuckled awkwardly.

"No, because I'm going to say it for you." He sighed. She looked around and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

He shrugged and looked around, "I like you, Amanda. A lot. And—I know that doesn't seem like something I'd admit. But, I like you. Like you, like you, if you want to get technical."

"And it breaks your heart to see me go?" she chuckled, trying to keep her heart from fluttering.

"Yeah, it does." He nodded.

This was too easy, though, in her mind. She quirked a brow and crossed her arms, "That was too easy. That was way too easy for you to admit."

"But it wasn't." he said, confused.

"I need more proof." She shrugged.

He scoffed, "Really? You need proof? What is with you women?"

Amanda laughed and took a step away from the ship. "You're gonna have to prove it!"

With a final shrug, rolling his eyes and smirked at her, "Babe—what the fuck do I need to do? Invent something to make you believe me?" he asked.

"That would work. Make something that…disguises you to be human!"

"Why would I make that?" he laughed. She cocked her head and bit her lip, "So you can prove to me that you love me without fear of imprisonment or capture…so you can hold my hand and walk down the street without wearing a cowboy suit and being four feet tall, so you can meet my family as a normal being before revealing yourself to them. And so you can show me that you love me by making love to me properly."

He stayed quiet for a moment, scanning her, "Who says I can't do that as an alien?"

She rolled her eyes, "I don't know. But we can't be together if I want to live my life here, but you're not even accepted here."

"You're asking me to change who I am, Amanda."

"I know…and that's a lot to do. But I don't know what _else_ to do. So just do it." She demanded, trying to sound playful.

"Fine! My people will invent something that can disguise me as a human."

"Good. Give me a ring when that happens." She grinned, making a phone with her hand and sticking it up to her ear and face.

Now everything was rather satisfying, stepping back, watching the craft lift off into the air. She felt a little uncomfortable, having almost forced him to try and change himself for her, and she felt she should've at least given him an ultimatum. But it proved that she really is selfish. And when she got home, she would cry and worry about that later. Amanda grabbed a hold of Clive and Graeme's hand as they watched the ship hover above them, Paul awkwardly waving to all of them, winking at Amanda.

Their last conversation wasn't ideal, seeing as how she had ordered him to prove himself of exactly what she had been hoping to tell him. He beat her to it though. But like a woman, she wanted proof. And hopefully she'd get it. Until then, she'd put herself in all the obvious places for him to find her.

Thinking about Paul also made her think about Graeme and Clive. The two that would definitely always be at her disposure. After all that's happened, she would never give them up. They were her family, they were her best friends. She was lucky to have friends like them, and someone like Ruth to be there. Unlike Paul, she wasn't going to let them disappear so easily. She was going to make sure that they stayed friends, and they stayed close.

The ship finally disappeared into the stars, but Amanda never let go of her friends hands until they had made it to the RV.

And even then, they slept right beside one another. They never left each others side.


	13. A Final Hello, Never Again A Goodbye

**Here it is.**

**The final leg of the journey.**

**The epilogue.**

**I have reached the land of completed stories, ladies and gentlemen, and it smells sweet.**

**To be honest, I doubt I'll be writing a sequel. I'm really not that creative.**

**And I can't thank you all enough, again, for being here throughout this entire story.**

**It's meant a lot.**

**Read & _REVIEW_**

_Dress as anything, they said. Make yourself a costume, they said. It won't be awkward, they said._ Amanda growled repeatedly in her head, repeating everything that Graeme and Clive had listed off to her in their skype chat.

Two years have passed since she last saw the two of them in the flesh, as with Ruth, and none other than Paul. But, of course, she didn't expect to see Paul at Comic-Con. In an email from not too long before Comic-Con, Clive told her that something should be arrive in the mail for her sooner rather than later. Finally, just to stop being lazy, she got on her bike and rode down her long dirt driveway to her mailbox of her new little vacation house. After all the random stuff, albeit, very handy and glorious stuff, she's gotten in the mail from the two of them, she was hoping what they had sent her wasn't too extravagant or glorious.

When Graeme and Clive found their way back to England, they had only kept sporadic contact for about a year. Then, all of a sudden, messages began flooding her parents mailbox, that were then forwarded to her shared apartment in Vegas; all sent from London, England from a Mr. Clive Gollings and a Mr. Graeme Willy. Like the nice people they are, Amanda's roommates said nothing about her mail, but instead just stacked it all onto a small chair by the door. After a month and a half of unknowingly receiving things from her real friends, she finally picked up all the mail and saw it was hers.

Taking it onto the balcony, she eagerly opened each and every one of them, all containing checks of a large amount. Not a lot to make her quit her job, but enough to let her have some back up cash and some extra spending money. And how did the two men come about this? Well, after reading the letters coming with the checks, she put a timeline together of them slowly but surely selling their stories to comic companies. They left their number for her to call.

Wondering what they had exactly written about and why she was getting money for it, she called the number, ecstatic to hear Graeme's voice when he answered the phone. Putting it on speaker, she heard Clive explain to her that their story was about their entire journey to get Paul home, which means that whatever percentage of the pay Graeme and Clive thought she deserved, she would get. They claimed she deserved the money as much as they did.

More was coming, they also told her, saying that a new company was going to print it for them, while they were waiting on another company to decide whether they were going to distribute it. And if the comic ended up becoming a big hit, they'd need to find a company to make extra merchandise and they would try to move to America. But that would come much later.

Luckily for Amanda, none of her roommates were there, and didn't witness her screaming and jumping around in delight. Not so much for the money, but for the fact that their real life events with the coolest alien in the universe is going to be sold in millions of comic stores, to the public. And the world will think it's fiction, but they know that it's real. The nerd community would go nuts!

They promised her that they would send her one of the first printed editions of the comic, and she told them that she would be waiting eagerly for it. Eventually, it arrived, about two months later. She called them immediately and told them, and, again, screamed and jumped up and down in excitement. After getting more money, and eventually deciding to save it, then using money from her job after her big promotion to assistant manager for everyday things, she got enough to where she thought she could travel to Wyoming for cheap, hire enough people to help her pick up all the blasted wood from her Grandma's old house to salvage it, use the rest of the money to buy herself a condo in Vegas, and then once she saved up more money, she would make a home away from home out of the wood from her Grandma's house. Every time she went to that little cabin when it was finally completed a month before Comic-Con one year later (with some help from her parents, it was rebuilt), she would call and tell Graeme and Clive that she would be there, in case they wanted to send something.

And she just happened to be there when they sent her the email, telling her to check her mail. When she opened the letter from them, she pulled out a note that described all the fun things about Comic-Con, and then pulled out one, singular ticket to all three days of Comic-Con, just for her. Rushing back inside to her laptop, she opened it up and found that they were on Skype, which she had forced them to get.

She called them, and their faces appeared on the screen.

"You want me to go to Comic-Con?" she asked, looking at them skeptically.

Clive looked at Graeme, "Well it looks like she checked her mail."

"Because you told me to—and I don't know if I can get the time off. My boss was on my ass about me taking a week off to spend time in Moorcroft!" she sighed, scratching her head and shrugging.

They just explained that it would mean a lot to them for her to be there and see them. She asked why, and they said that they were doing a big panel at the con, and it would be nice to have both Ruth _and_ Amanda there as support. Frustrated, she slumped her shoulders and shrugged.

"Honestly, you guys, this is so short notice."

"Just tell your boss the truth! You're going in honor of a very famous comic book that you happen to be in, and you need the time off." Clive shrugged.

"I don't think that'd work." Graeme muttered, looking off into the distance.

"I'm going because of your comic book?"

"Yes! We've made you VIP on our guest list!" Graeme said excitedly, grinning stupidly.

On and on they argued about how she would get the time off, and, after lots of convincing, she told them she would head home early to talk to her boss about it. Happily they high-fived and told her they had to go and pack to prepare for the weekend two weeks away. Amanda could hardly believe it was getting that close so soon. But if getting to go to Comic-Con meant leaving Moorcroft a little early and maybe even putting in some overtime at work, that was fine with her. It would be great to actually see them in person this time.

But, she knew, she would need a costume.

The very next day, after they had skyped, she drove down to Vegas and walked into work that evening at the nice, fancy restaurant on the strip. Looking casual, all of her co-workers knew she wasn't coming in to work an extra shift. They all gave her odd looks as she squeezed between empty tables during the pause between the dinner rush and the night owl hours, looking straight for her boss who stood with the cooks, showing them the menu for that night.

Tapping him on the shoulder, he turned to her, his head bald, his face clean, young, with a large brown mustache placed on his upper lips. He looked like a scary guy, but he was rather sweet. Tough, though. When he saw her, he quirked his big brown brow and smirked.

"Come crawling back early from your vacation, huh kid?" he snickered, the cooks all getting back to their business behind him. She sighed and set her hands on her hips.

"I'm here to make a deal with you." She muttered.

His brows raised and he smiled, his teeth a slight tint of yellow stained from lack of brushing and constant cups of coffee; "A deal? A deal for what? More vacation time?"

"Yes, and no. I have some very important business to take care of in two weeks."

"Oh really."

"Yes, really. I happen to be a VERY IMPORTANT PERSON who needs to go to Comic-Con in San Diego. So I came home early to work for the rest of my "vacay", and then maybe get extra hours so I can get that weekend off without worry of you taking it out of my pay-check." She said rather quickly, morphing her tone into a non-negotiable concrete wall that she was sure he couldn't break through.

He furrowed his caterpillars and crossed his arms, leaning against the granite counter behind him, where they would place clean plates, ready to be put away between shifts.

"Very important person, huh?"

Again, she rolled her eyes, "Yes sir."

"And it's Comic-Con you said?"

"Yes. Sir."

He squinted at her, playing with his tongue behind his lips, examining her.

"Deal."

The moment the word escaped his lips, she sucked in a deep breath of air and almost fell to her knees. She jumped into the air, pumping her fists, repeating over and over again, 'YES YES YES'. He laughed and held out his hand.

"But on one condition. Since you've been working so hard already, I'm only going to let you work the rest of your vacation days, TWO SHIFTS A DAY, lunch and dinner, and then your normal hours next week."

She shrugged, "That's reasonable!— "

"AND. You have to take my nephew to Comic-Con."

"Wait, what?"

"You heard me. My nephew is coming down to visit on his way to Comic-Con as well, for his birthday. Let my sister and her husband stay here and you can take him to San Diego with you. They'll pay you extra to watch him." He mentioned, propelling himself off of the granite table top and towards the podium at the front of the restaurant.

Scoffing, she spun on her heels and followed him, "But—I don't like kids!"

"Then no Comic-Con!" he called sweetly over his shoulder as a couple walked through the front doors.

"FINE." She growled, getting it over with as he greeted the couple and took their menus to a small table by the window.

And with that, she had successfully gotten herself time to go to Comic-Con, but she had to bring a kid with her. A kid she didn't know. She had to drive him, feed him, house him. Over and over again she had to remind herself that it would all be worth it, because she would be there to support Graeme, Clive, and secretly Paul. She'd survive with the kid, she knew she would.

So, two weeks passed, and she worked her ass off, serving people, doing assistant manager things, filling in for her actual boss while he had his Monday off. Finally, that Thursday, Amanda packed all her stuff into the back of her Volvo wagon and wore all the lightest clothes she had. When she wasn't working all that week, she had made costumes to wear, one in particular that she knew Graeme and Clive would get a laugh out of. Otherwise, her lightest clothes, that she would wear around town would be reminiscent of the good ole days. She had bought herself a new, black, v-neck t-shirt, a new pair of jean shorts, and a new pair of sandals. Like before, she put her hair back in that certain top-half pony tail.

She was ready for a good trip, and a great weekend at Comic-Con. She locked her car and trudged into the alleyway beside the restaurant, walking into the side door to avoid all the foot traffic at the front of restaurant during breakfast. Excitedly, she came up behind her boss and tapped his shoulder. He turned around and smiled, "There you are. My nephew's almost done with breakfast."

"Alright," she nodded, "I can wait."

Shifting her weight onto one foot, she turned and looked out at all of the people sitting around eating and enjoying themselves. Old couples, young couples, groups of bachelors and bachelorettes, business men, business women, the stereotypical Hawaiian shirt tourist, and small families. She picked out all of the small families, hoping to find his nephew and just be able to grab him once he was done eating and run for it. Finally, she spotted a cute little family. A balding dad with glasses, a sweet little mom with short blonde hair and glasses, and a cute little wavy haired kid with glasses. The hair looked the most familiar, and she couldn't help but stare. He wiped his mouth on his napkin and nodded to his parents who smiled and pulled out their chairs. They all stood up and began to politely move their way through the restaurant towards them. The kid held a book in his hands and Amanda smiled, knowing he would be preoccupied with it during the ride.

Her boss stepped out in front of them and hugged the woman, his sister. They talked and her boss gestured to her, smiling. The couple grinned and shook her hand, thanking her for taking their son. Now that she had thought about it, she was surprised they were trusting her. But her boss must've said something good about her to them.

"Thank you so much for taking him for us."

"It's really no problem Mrs. Nash, anything for the family of my boss." She laughed and the dad chuckled. He reached behind his wife and pulled his son between them.

"Son, say hello."

"Hello." He repeated, not looking up at her. They all laughed at his "shyness" and Amanda just smirked. He couldn't be much older than twelve.

"Amanda, this is Keith." They said through chuckles. She held out her hand immediately, speaking quickly.

"Hi there—Keith…" she suddenly said, the name ringing through her head. He looked up at her and an image of a small boy in a karate suit, stealing a comic book from a store flashed through her mind. Her eyes widened, and so did his. He took her hand and shook it, while he used his comic book hand and flipped over the book to look at the back. The title and cover was of an alien, PAUL. And a drawing of her character was stamped on the back, in the same outfit.

"Hi Amanda." He smiled.

His parents looked at each other confused, knowing they hadn't told him her name yet, because even they didn't know. She held onto his hand and smirked, "You ready to go?"

"Definitely." He nodded. His mom smiled and bent down to kiss his cheek.

"Have a good time, honey." His parents cooed.

"Take care of him." Her boss warned. She nodded and led Keith out of the restaurant by the hand.

"Of course! Bye!" she assured.

They climbed into the car and immediately Keith shoved the comic book in her face. He started to rave about how the comic was great and how he couldn't believe that she, Amanda, from the story, who he remembered meeting, was taking him to Comic-Con, where he planned on meeting Graeme and Clive. She drove him to San Diego, the entire time they talked about Paul and what had happened two years before then, which Amanda was glad to say that she remembered everything. And he was the first person she admitted to that she missed Paul dearly, and that she had developed a little crush on him. Keith laughed and pointed out that they had added it into the plot.

Amanda nearly slammed on the breaks on the bleak highway when he said that. They had added awkward, sexual tension filled moments between her and Paul. She really should've read the comic for herself, or at least been given a proof-read of it. That wasn't fair. It was a tease and embarrassing because they could just tell that they liked each other.

She'll complain about it when she sees them. Maybe.

Eventually, they got to the hotel in San Diego late in the evening and just set up camp and watched some alien movies before going to sleep. The next morning, too excited and giddy to do anything else, Amanda jumped out of bed before Keith and jumped into the shower, ready to comb out her hair to see how long it was for her costume. Keith got up an hour later, after Amanda had dressed and had put a trench coat over her outfit. She handed Keith a walkie-talkie and gave him specific instructions, that if he ever strayed away, he would walkie-talkie to tell her where he was, and they would keep in contact until Keith was ready to meet up with her. She wasn't going to hold him back from having fun.

They ran down to the street below, ready to skip across the street to the center where Comic-Con was being held. The streets and sidewalks were majorly crowded and Amanda couldn't help but get butterflies, looking up at the posters and signs. They did, in fact, skip across the street until they got inside, when they jumped around in happiness.

Amanda knelt down beside Keith and took him by the shoulders, crinkling his crisp white karate suit. She smiled at him, telling him that she was going to let him go, and that he would have to keep his walkie-talkie ready, and to meet her at the panel in two hours, when the program said it would be. He nodded and she pushed him off. She trusted him to be okay.

Her first job, of anything was to drop off her coat at a coat return or something, or even throw it away so she could find where she was supposed to go; the place she knew they would be. She pulled off the trench coat to reveal a slave Leia costume, realistically put together with hair and everything. She was prepared to, hopefully, turn some heads. In a matter of no time, she found the group of slave Leia's that she figured Clive and Graeme would want a picture with. She ran up behind them, trying to peek around them to see who they were taking a picture with. And in fact, she recognized the two heads.

The Leia's were gathered on top of a step that would let some of them be higher than the rest, and she hid behind them. When the picture was taken, they all scattered and Graeme and Clive raved about the picture, paying no heed to what was coming up behind them. Amanda climbed onto the step and tip-toed towards them, the cloth swinging quietly between her legs. Finally, she pounced, wrapping her arms around their shoulders, her toes still on the step, so she could drape over them with all of her weight. They both gasped and pulled away from her, so she almost landed on her face until Clive grabbed her arm.

"My goodness my lady, you have seemed to have gone astray from the pack!" Clive joked.

Amanda pushed her head piece up from her eyes and smiled up at them, "I've been astray a while, so I think I've found my pack." She winked.

Graeme gasped and actually screamed joyously, helping her to her feet and hugging her tightly, pulling her all around, spinning and twisting. Clive joined in and they squished her in a sandwich. She could hardly believe they were holding her, looking at her in the flesh. She could easily keep the tears away but she couldn't keep away her butterflies. She was so happy to see them. Cupping both of their faces in her hands, she kissed their cheeks and hugged them individually while they laughed about her costume.

"It looks really great! I had no idea you would actually do it."

"What, did you guess I would?"

"We bet, actually." Clive snorted.

Amanda crossed her arms and wagged her finger at them, "Taking bets on me. How barbaric!" she joked.

They all laughed and she told them about the walkie-talkie connected to her hip and Keith Nash, who they instantly remembered. They were surprised that something like that could occur. But then they realized that, after meeting Paul, anything could happen.

"He just happens to be my Boss' nephew. What are the odds of that?" Amanda laughed, smirking at the walkie-talkie.

"Did he recognize you?" Graeme asked.

"Yes, luckily, because of those." She nodded, gesturing to a stack of Paul comic books on an information table. Clive laughed and nudged Graeme, "That means you drew her perfectly. Very identifiable."

Graeme stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged, looking down at his shoes. Amanda clasped her hands together and grinned at them as Clive pulled out a thin, folded book from his pocket and began scanning his finger down a long list of time frames for panels and pictures and questions. She smirked and tried to listen to them talk while they both mumbled and grumbled to her about Adam Shadowchild and the ever changing time slot for their panel of questions. They were excited, because it had originally been set to two o'clock in the afternoon, but when they had arrived the afternoon before, they had gotten five different calls about five different time changes to their panel time.

But, with a satisfied grin, they told her that they had finally secured the two o'clock slot for their panel.

"You're seated in the very front row with Ruth." Graeme nodded.

"I'll have to bring Keith, are there enough seats?" she asked, looking over her shoulders, like she could magically find Keith not too far away.

"Maybe, but we could probably bring out an extra chair or something. It wouldn't be that hard. Hopefully." Clive shrugged, looking at Graeme like it was manageable.

Amanda smiled and cocked her head, "Aw, look at you guys. Doing business and stuff. Who woulda thought that you two would've gotten here—to Comic-Con—with your own panel!"

"Don't sound so shocked." Clive snorted.

"I'm not surprised. This is an amazing feat and only you two could've gotten yourselves here."

"You were some help, and obviously, so was Paul." Graeme said, crossing his arms and gesturing the pile of comics that Amanda had pointed out to them before. Amanda sullenly smirked and nodded, "That's true."

"You alright?" Graeme asked, furrowing his brows. Clive glanced from the comics to Amanda, who looked at them, her brows raised, her hands messing with her skirt.

"Hm? Oh yeah, it was just a long drive yesterday." She said, waving it off. They nodded and began to turn around, telling her how they were going to give her a tour.

Suddenly, Amanda reached out and grabbed their arms, stopping them from running into someone in a very elaborate costume. They gasped and the person in the costume stopped directly in front of them, began making weird hand gestures, and spoke in an odd voice and space language. Clive glared at them and Graeme tried not to chuckle, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

The masked person reached up and pulled off their large helmet disguise and revealed a short haired, more dolled up Ruth. She shook the hair out of her face and smiled, "Someone who loves you."

Graeme gasped and held out his arms, stepping forward to hug her. Clive sort of rolled his eyes and started forward, gesturing for Amanda to follow him, trudging past the happy couple, Graeme muttering something about how Ruth was going to dress up as Wonder Woman that day. Amanda just rolled her eyes and snuck in a hug with Ruth, who squeezed her tightly.

"What time is the panel?" Ruth asked, looking down at the program in Graeme's hand.

"Two o'clock."

"And it's only noon now, so what should we all do?" Clive asked, clapping his hands together and rubbing them ferociously.

Graeme shrugged, "Uh, I dunno, we could go and look at some other panels, or go and stop at the uh…food court…"

They all began pushing into a crowd that had flooded into that area, looking for who knows what. Amanda scrunched up her nose at the sight, peering over her shoulder at the blank space where they had just been standing, finding it odd that that spot was so open and suddenly the next part of the building was bustling with activity.

She looked forward again and barely saw Graeme's red hair disappear in the mass. Groaning she picked up her speed to try and push her way through the people. She grabbed at people's arm and shoulders, gently shoving them away, clearing herself a path, slowly but surely. No one turned around and got angry, no one swore at her, no one even reacted; they just allowed themselves to be thrown around by her. Shrugging, she continued pushing, seeing the back of Ruth's head, just before her, not too far. But she didn't notice the person coming at her, a man only slightly taller her with a little chub on him, but not an existential amount, his hair short and curly, shining and light redish auburn. Unlike the rest of the crowd, he wasn't wearing any special outfit, just jeans and a t-shirt. Behind him, he pulled along a person in a costume, covered in a mask. Harshly, they smashed shoulders, and Amanda almost stumbled to the side. She growled and shook her head.

"OH—my bad!" he gasped.

"Watch it, asshole." She muttered to herself, talking over his apology.

"Well fuck you Princess Leia, who put you on such a high…walker…" he hesitated, but she could barely hear him over the sound of the crowd she was surrounding herself with. She barely even looked over her shoulder.

_Just a loser trying to apologize…a worthless apology in this place…_ she thought to herself, finally escaping the ocean of bodies and finding her three friends waiting for her.

"Thought we lost you in there." Ruth laughed.

"For a second, you did." Amanda smirked, walking past them towards the food court.

For two hours they basically only sat in the food court, just talking and catching up. They all got to hear Kevin when Amanda had walkie-talkied him to remind him when the panel was. He said he would meet her at the food court when she said she was ready to take him to their seats. During their conversation, Amanda had learned that Clive and Graeme were planning on moving to America, and that Ruth had moved out of her dads place and had slowly been finding jobs and jumping from apartment to apartment until she finally settled in one in California. Graeme and Clive were going to live with her until they had picked out there own condos, or even a house they could share. Amanda smiled all the while, noticing every other ten minutes that she would see the man she bumped into and his friend. After they had spoken, they pulled her from her trance of looking for the stranger and got her to talk. Chuckling, she told them her story of what's been happening to her over the last two years and they all seemed impressed with her magic business skills and dealings with her boss for so much vacation time, still able to land a promotion.

"You must work very hard." Clive smiled.

"I do, so it's good that I get this kind of time off." Amanda nodded.

"When was the last time you all saw each other?" Ruth laughed, looking between all of them. Apparently, Ruth had traveled to England to see them a few times in the duration since the incident with Paul. And Ruth was amazed to find out that they all hadn't seen each other since then.

Graeme nodded and sipped his drink, "It's a shame, really. We've missed you a lot."

"A day hasn't gone by when we haven't mentioned you." Clive pointed out. "And I'm not exaggeratin'." He pointed out when Ruth narrowed her eyes at him.

Amanda smiled and played with her fries, "You guys have no idea how much I've missed spending time with you. These two years have been the longest two years of my life." She scoffed, finally eating a long greasy fry. There was silence between them, and Ruth excused herself to go to the bathroom. Amanda pressed her lips together and looked at them, "Sorry if my missing you guys made it awkward."

"We just don't know what to say." Clive chuckled, finishing his fries.

"Yes we do. And it's that we've missed you too. It's been hard seeing only Ruth and never seeing you. Not saying that it's bad to see Ruth but…it's just not the same when we've only spoken to you over the phone and have only seen you over skype…what, once?" Graeme shrugged. Amanda nodded, staring at her barely touched plate, "It wasn't fair. Hearing your voice was like listening to the voice of a dead person for the first time since they've died." He joked.

"Are you saying I'm boring to talk to?" Amanda asked, glaring at them.

"No! No definitely not—" they both began to ramble, but she lifted her hand and laughed.

"I get what you mean."

They sighed and checked their watches. "It's about time we start heading over there early. We'll go and find Ruth and you can go get Kevin." Clive announced, standing up. Amanda nodded and pushed herself to her feet. They waved and began to walk away as she pulled off her walkie-talkie.

"Okay Kev, it's time to head to the panel. You ready?"

"Ready!" Kevin said from behind her. She gasped and turned around to look at the smiling kid. With a sigh she laughed and pulled him away from the food court, "Come on."

Eagerly, they began walking towards the panel, Kevin asking her loads of questions about Graeme and Clive. She just rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder, telling him that he would learn enough about them and the comic at the panel and that he should just wait. They found the big space and walked down towards the front row, squeezing between people who stood in the aisles, mingling in their costumes. Amanda sat down next to Ruth who had already found a seat. They said hello and Ruth introduced herself to Kevin before Amanda gestured to his seat between Ruth and herself.

Quickly, people gathered into the seats and the whole place was filling up as the time was winding down. A very familiar waitress had even taken the seat on the otherwise of Ruth and was speaking with her. Amanda could only smirk and try not to giggle to herself, looking at the program.

The lights began to dim and everyone began to cheer as Adam Shadowchild stepped out. Amanda's mouth dropped open and she let out a mighty guffaw at the odds of that. She grinned shook her head and just clapped with the rest of the audience, standing up with, well, the rest of the audience. Kevin was transfixed by it all, staring expectantly up at Mr. Shadowchild like he was a god. Amanda stared down at him and saw every reflection in his glasses, his hands clutching the comic, turning his knuckles white.

On her other side, she could feel the people move around and then suddenly stop. She could feel a new presence, like new people had switched seats with the others. Curious, while everyone listened she trailed her eyes up the man's shoes to his face. It was the man that she had seen all over the place, like he was stalking her. The sight of him made her sigh exasperatedly, and turn away hurriedly, catching his attention.

"Oh hey, Princess!" he laughed, pointing at her, his other hand in his pocket. "I didn't know you'd be at this panel, what are the odds?" he shrugged. His deep, gravelly, sincere voice sent chills down her spine, but she tried to ignore the feeling.

She shook her head, "Cut the act, I've seen your face in the same place for the past two hours, you've been following me."

He looked around awkwardly, "I…how can I follow someone that's been in only one place?"

"Don't twist my words please, I'm really not in the mood to talk with some loser who gets off on seeing a pissed off chick in a slave Leia outfit." She said nonchalantly, staring up at Adam Shadowchild, keeping her tone quiet and calm.

From her peripheral, she could see him roll his eyes and shrug, "Whatever. Sure, your costume is great but I didn't come here to follow you. I have an interest in this comic, so I wanted to come here." He growled. She snorted and folded her hands in front of her.

"Whatever you say." She chuckled, looking over at his friend in the mask, who just stared at them. She scrunched up her nose and looked back up at the stage. The man smirked once she scrunched her nose and he also looked up at the stage.

Adam was arguing with a woman offstage who was telling him to just introduce Graeme and Clive. The man pointed up at the stage, "So do you know them personally?"

She glared at him. "It's just an observation, I saw you sitting with them the one time I passed the food court. That doesn't mean I'm stalking you—I'm not that kind of piece of shit guy." He defended. She sighed and nodded.

"Yes, I know them personally."

"Yeah…I figured. You seemed familiar." He laughed. She slumped her shoulders, "So you've been following me because I seem familiar to you?" she asked, setting her hands on her hips and turning to him angrily. He took a step away.

"Hold the fucking phone! Like I said, I'm not stalking you! You look familiar because of THIS." He argued, pulling out the Paul comic from his pocket.

Frustrated, Amanda sighed and looked away again, occasionally peeking at the exasperated man who just threw his hands into the air and turned away. Something really was off about him, but it wasn't his "stalkerish" qualities. She licked her teeth under her lips and, without looking at him, held out her hand, "My name's Amanda."

"I know." He muttered.

"I'm trying to formally introduce myself, just shake my God damn hand." She hissed. He grabbed her hand and shook it.

"Paul."

She shut her eyes tight and hissed through her gritted, "You just happened to be named Paul, you know that I'm in the comic and you like the comic Paul. That's funny."

"I know, right? It's crazy." He chuckled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"If you think it's gonna get you in my pants, you've got another thing coming." She muttered, examining her nails.

"You jump to conclusions way too fast, this is why I don't normally hit on women." He quickly sighed, sounding like he was finally giving up on talking to her.

"I'm glad you don't, saves women like me from embarrassing you." She shrugged, feeling like she was being a little harsh to him. But he was being kind of creepy, so she thought it was okay. He threw his head back and laughed, "Women like you? And what kind of women are like you?" he joked.

An image of Paul promising to come and be with her flashed through her mind and she tried to find the right words to describe what kind of woman she was. A hopeless romantic? A lonely, self-conscious romantic? A woman who just missed her friends more than anything and really doesn't need a guy whatsoever? She sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, "A woman…who is saving herself for someone."

The man stayed quiet as a few people cheered when Adam was beginning to lead up to introducing Graeme and Clive. He looked at her a few times before quietly saying, "You're saving yourself for someone."

"Yes, for someone who said they're coming back. Sorry to disappoint you."

"It's not that…he must be a very lucky guy." He said sincerely, shifting uncomfortably.

"He is…if only he knew."

The man nodded and looked down at his feet, "He knows."

Amanda, confused now, turned to him, glaring. "What the hell do you mean?" she asked, staring him down.

"I said he knows—he knows he's lucky!" he said clearer, calling over the impending cheers. She glared at him and crossed her arms, backing away. "What the hell do you know, you don't know anything about me."

"The thing is, I _do_ Amanda. I really do—and I know that he knows that he's lucky to have someone like you waiting for him. And he thinks about you everyday, hoping he can find a way to get back and satisfy you." Paul the human described, staring up at Adam Shadowchild and partially the ceiling.

Pressing her lips together, she reached forward and pulled the comic out of his pocket, flipping to the very back. He gasped at her sudden movement and stared at her like she was crazy. "The fuck are you doing?" She shook her head, flipping through the pages, "how the hell did they end this stupid comic?" she growled.

He pulled at it and finally got it out of her hands, and threw it to the ground, holding both of her hands. "Amanda, it's me!" he said, trying to pull her close, trying to look into her eyes. She shook her head and tried to pull away but he tightened his grip.

"Amanda, please, it's me! It's Paul! I said I would come back to you! And I'm here."

"You—are crazy. I'm getting security or something!" she barked at him, looking around, expecting guards to be posted at every door, the cheers rising as Graeme and Clive walked out onto the stage. No one could hear her and the human Paul talking.

"But Amanda it's me!"

"This is so not funny—you aren't funny! Now let me go!" she demanded.

"Amanda please believe that it's me! I crashed the car? I took your voice, I found your center, I spoke in my sleep, I crashed my ship onto YOUR grandmothers dog? Tara? I made Ruth lose her faith in God—remember?"

This man named Paul must've been playing with her. Her feelings were becoming too delicate for him not to somehow know that she was so vulnerable and weak. He somehow knew what would get her; and he probably knew enough about her and Paul that the comic didn't have in it's pages. She didn't want to find out what he knew either, or how he knew it, she didn't want to know that he knew her secrets.

She loved Paul, and him trying to convince her of who he was, was tearing her apart. How could someone just think that they could get away with calling themselves Paul and crawl their way into her life. Paul could barely do that at the beginning of their friendship. She continued, with all her might to pull away, but he was pretty strong.

"Let me go!"

"I promised I would come back on that one condition. On the condition that I would come back—" he began, his hands letting go of her wrists and latching onto her waist, pulling her closer. She gasped and placed her fists on his chest, "—as a human, so I could be with you and hold you like I'm doing now!"

With eyes like a hawk, he scanned her body, looking mighty impressed with what he was feeling up at the moment. With probable tears in her eyes, she looked up into his, the ones that darted to hers, allowing her to see nothing but sincerity and lifetimes of knowledge. She didn't want to believe it.

"I'm here…I'm here in the human flesh to do exactly what you wanted." He muttered loosening his grip on her waist. The crowd was still screaming about Graeme and Clive.

"I don't want to believe you…" Amanda whispered.

From behind him, his friend in the mask stepped forward and pulled off his metal face. The face behind the mask made her gasp, for she looked into the eyes of her grandmother, Tara. "Mandy, darling, believe him. It's really him."

"…Grandma?" Amanda choked out, looking at Tara in shock. Her grandmother was there. She was supposed to be on a planet, billion and billions of miles away. And yet there she was. With Paul.

Paul.

She looked back to the man claiming to be Paul and saw him on the ground on one knee. His hand slipped down her arm and held her hand, allowing the other one to fly up to her mouth, "Oh—you've got to be kidding me—" she coughed, wanting to step away.

Everything was happening so fast.

"Babe, I said I would come back when my people invented something that will disguise me as a human." He grinned, flipping her hand over and pinching his fingers together in her palm.

"You said—and I _quote_—give me a ring when that happens." He grinned as she muttered the same words as well, remembering exactly what she had said.

He pulled his pinched fingers from her palm and out floated a silver ring with ribbons of gold twisted around the entire bang. She gasped and wanted to close her hand, but she knew not to. He let out a sigh, having used a lot of energy to produce it, and he grinned up at her.

"Oh my God—I meant a phone call—"

Standing up, he came eye to eye with her and fumbled to stick the ring on her finger and she mumbled to herself about how she meant a phone call until she could, finally, pull her arms away, wrap them around his shoulders and kiss him.

When she did, it was like fireworks for her.

The crowd cheered around them and Graeme and Clive waved to the entire audience while Amanda practically begged Paul through smashed and muffled lips to hold her tighter and kiss her harder. She was kissing alien Paul because he had kept his word. He could still be himself, but for now, he had found a way to be a human for her.

So she had Graeme and Clive again, and now Paul was there for her, and would be there for her, hopefully for forever.

Everyone would have to know her name—she would shout it to the world.

Amanda, the girl who loves an alien.


End file.
